Holding Out For A Hero
by lovesrainscent
Summary: Set twenty years prior to series start.  Original Ino/Shika/Cho team fic featuring adventure, shameless romance, breathless kisses, cameo appearances by all three of the sannin and total Jiraiya adoration.
1. Holding Out For A Hero

**Title: Holding Out For A Hero**

**Author: Lovesrainscent**

**Pairing: Shikaku/Yoshino**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto and do not stand to make any profit by posting this story.

**Summary:** Written because a) I love Shikaku/Yoshino b) I love this song c) every girl needs her hero.

Expect men being men and boys being boys with the original Ino/Shika/Cho trio as nineteen year-olds waffling back and forth between the two, corrupt Uchihas, adventure, shameless romance, breathless kisses, cameos by all three of the sannin, and total Jiraiya adoration.

Okay, hold on, here we go…

**Chapter 1: Holding Out For A Hero  
**

The three boys lounged in the afternoon sun, missions completed for the day. Shikaku was lying on his back looking up at the clouds, Chouza leaned up against a tree finishing off a bag of chips while Inoichi sat on a small flat boulder, sharpening a kunai with a whetstone.

"So, you guys want ramen tonight? Or sushi?" Chouza asked.

Neither one answered.

"Guys, what's it going to be?" Chouza wheedled.

Inoichi just smirked to himself.

Shikaku seemed to be dozing.

"Shhh, don't wake him," Inoichi whispered to Chouza with a wicked grin on his face.

"Wha-? Inoichi! Are you eavesdropping again?" Chouza grumbled.

Inoichi waved his kunai to silence his friend but Shikaku stirred.

"Finally, you lazy dolt you're awake! Do you wanna go get ramen tonight or sushi?" Chouza asked once again, feeling slightly annoyed with his two teammates.

"What? Oh, um, yeah, you guys go on without me." Shikaku yawned and stretched, rising to his feet.

Inoichi snorted with laughter.

Chouza looked disappointed.

"Have you got _plans_ tonight, Nara," Inoichi teased.

Shikaku slid a hand over his face, still trying to finish waking up. "Yea, um, I'm busy."

Inoichi laughed again and leered at his friend, "Have you got a _date_? "

"Son-of-a-bitch! Inoichi, were you…"

"Hey," the blond young man shrugged, "you were leaking like a sieve, I couldn't help but pick up on it." The way he drew out the word leaking held a nasty implication that made Shikaku scowl.

"I ought to…" Shikaku sent his shadow forward toward his teammate.

Inoichi just smirked and whirled away. Shikaku faltered as an image of Tsunade's ample cleavage was sent directly into his mind which promptly stopped working. For the life of him, he couldn't think of how to release the genjutsu and quite frankly didn't want to.

"Guys! " Chouza stepped between his two friends, grasping each one firmly by a shoulder. "Let's go eat! Shikaku can tell us all about his date over dinner."

"It's not a date!" the black haired teen reiterated.

"Whatever. I'm hungry, barbeque it is, let's go," Chouza stated, settling the matter and turning his friends to head them back into town.

Some time later, at the grill, two boys snatching what bites they could between their friend Chouza's greedy grabbing, all three discussed whatever crap it is that nineteen year old boys talk about.

"So, who is she?" Inoichi prodded.

"She's just a girl, okay," Shikaku answered, slumping down in the booth and looking disinterested.

"Well, is she a pretty girl? A tall girl, a …," Inoichi hesitated and flicked his eyes at Chouza wanting desperately to know if she was a 'fat' girl but not wanting to ask it in front of his other best friend. "A….," he floundered for a word, finally settling on "a voluptuous girl?" Then his eyes took on a wicked gleam and he added, "like Tsunnnaaaaadee?"

"Shit. Just shut up, okay?" Shikaku grumbled nearly spearing Chouza's hand as he tried to snag a piece of beef for himself.

"So, who is she?" Inoichi continued to pester his friend.

""Look you don't know her, okay? She's just a little chuunin. You guys _ditched_ me and I was stuck grading those damned genin exams with _her_. I told her we'd get something to eat after the exams were over. That's all. Okay?"

Shikaku, and in fact neither of the other two, had noticed that the door to the restaurant had opened and Yoshino had entered.

Yoshino thought she recognized Shikaku's voice coming from the booth but she couldn't see over the top of it. She started to walk around to greet him but stopped in her tracks as she heard the conversation and wondered if she was the subject of it.

"So, a chuunin, huh? How old is she?" Chouza asked, his mouth full of beef.

Shikaku scowled at his friend's table manners. "Sixteen."

Yoshino stood frozen by the hostess stand, realizing that they were indeed talking about her.

Inoichi leaned forward. "Sixteen? You sure? Not jail-bait, is she?"

Shikaku shoved his friend's face away. "Look, you ass, it doesn't matter if she's sixteen or fourteen or twelve!"

Inoichi's eyebrows shot to the ceiling and he whistled.

"Shit, fuck, pervert. It's not like that. " Shikaku didn't know why he felt like acting like it was NOT a date in front of his friends because he had actually been looking forward to going out with Yoshino once the blasted exams were over. She'd had a lot of gopher duty for the proctors, the visiting kage's and their assorted staff during the exams. Tonight was the first opportunity they'd had.

"It's not like that because it's NOT a date, okay? She's just some little chit of a chuunin and I told her we'd get a bite after the exams, nothing more."

"Can she cook?" Chouza asked, snagging the last bit of beef from the grill.

"How the hell should I know?" Shikaku snapped back. He couldn't explain why he hadn't wanted his friends to know about this but he just…didn't. Damn! How awkward was this? Why did it matter? What did he care what they thought?

"Look at you squirm, Nara!" Inoichi was taunting, daring. Shikaku wanted to smack him silly. "You must really have it bad for this chick. Why do you want to keep her such a secret, huh?"

"Shit! Shut up Yamanaka!" He tried to rise to his feet and pushed his friend's shoulder, "lemme outta this booth. I gotta go take a leak."

Inoichi made a nasty comment about the real reason Shikaku was heading for the men's room that made Chouza choke and sputter.

"Sheesh, you'd think I was married to you guys, or something. I miss one dinner and night out drinking with you two and it's the end of the world. Boo hoo," Shikaku made a great deal of rubbing his eyes like a crybaby. "Boo hoo, poor Inoichi, poor Chouza, What'll they do if Shikaku's not there? Guess you two are gonna end up playing grab ass with each other, huh?"

Chouza blushed and hissed. "Shikaku, keep it down, we're in a restaurant. Can't you take a little teasing about your date?"

"It is NOT a date!" Shikaku bellowed.

Just then he noticed the petite brunette glaring daggers at him as she accepted her bag of take-out and stalked out the door.

"Motherf–" Shikaku mumbled as he stared after her. "Yamanaka, you prick!" Inoichi had risen from the table to let Shikaku slide out of the booth and he rammed his shoulder into the blonde's on the way out.

_**A/N:**Inspired by "Holding Out For A Hero" by Frou Frou.  
_

_"Where have all the good men gone  
And where are all the gods?  
Where's the street-wise Hercules  
To fight the rising odds?  
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?  
Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need – I need a hero…" ~ Frou Frou_

_Just to clarify a few things – in this fic Shikaku is 19 and Yoshino is 16. I think that's pretty close to the age difference given on some reference sites. I've seen some sites that list them at the beginning of the series as 38/36 or 40/38 so I think I'm pretty close.  
_

_Re: the cursing – yea – I know – they curse a lot. What can I say? They're guys. Not yaoi-boys. They curse. And drink. And curse some more. _


	2. Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times

**Chapter 2: ** **Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times**

Shikaku dashed through the streets of Konoha after Yoshino. The only good thing about this fuck up he thought to himself was that at least he'd stuck those two idiots he called friends with the bill. For once he was glad Chouza had selected barbeque.

He saw Yoshino turn the corner ahead of him and he sped up after her calling out her name, "Yoshino. Yoshino, wait up a minute."

She stopped, hesitated then turned to look at him. "Yes, Nara? You want something?"

"I, uh, I, uh…my friends are jerks. Sorry that you overhead them back there," he struggled, running his hand through his hair.

Yoshino arched an eyebrow and asked, "Just your friends, huh? They're the jerks?"

"Yeah, well," he gave her a lopsided grin, "I guess I am, too, sometimes." Okay, whew, well, at least she hadn't bitten his head off. Maybe there was still hope. Of course the fact that he was hoping for anything was bothering him somewhat. Just what the heck was going on here, anyway? Why did he _care_ what his friends thought of her? Why did it _matter_ if she was mad at him or not? To a certain extent, he meant what he said to Inoichi and Chouza – she _was_ just a girl. She wasn't anything special. Not really. So why was his mind tacking on a "not yet" to that stream of thought?

She relaxed just a little bit and said, "Well, at least you're honest." She gave him a faint smile and Shikaku found that he was fascinated by what it did to her eyes, they went from flinty to soft just like that. How did she _do_ that?

Yoshino may have been relaxed but it was indeed only just a little bit. She asked guardedly, "So, um, if you want to call it off tonight…that's okay…" her voice trailed off. It was probably better not to start anything in the first place, anyway she thought to herself, not exactly feeling sad, more like just a little wistful.

"What? Oh, wait, no, that was just, you know, shooting the bullshi…er, crap, er,…breeze with the guys. No, sure, I still wanna go."

"You still want to go to dinner? I thought you were just eating now eating with your friends."

Shikaku laughed. "You try eating with Chouza sometime. Yes, I _am_ still hungry."

She smiled just a little bit more and said, "Well, do you still want to meet at 7? It's only 6 now. I was just at the barbeque picking up something for my dad. Mom's out and he should be back before she is. I usually cook when she's gone, but since we were going out tonight I thought I'd bring him something from the restaurant."

"Oh, yeah, right," Shikaku spoke lamely. Sixteen. Oh shit. She still lived at home with her parents. Shit, was he going to have to meet her parents? Well, at least not tonight, from the way it sounded. He and Chouza and Inoichi had had their own apartment for the last three years, and even though it usually looked as if a shinobi war had been fought there, it was blessedly parent-free.

They walked along to her house, chatting along the way. He learned that although she wasn't the only shinobi in her family, there weren't very many. Primarily her family were shopkeepers in the village, running a variety of grocery and dry goods stores. She learned that even though most of his close family _were_ shinobi, there were actually very many in the Nara clan who were not, preferring instead to devote themselves to a life of research in chemistry and medicine. And also that he had had one brother who had died in the last shinobi war.

When they got to her home, she set the table for her father, left him a note and the bag in the kitchen and went to change clothes. Shikaku tried to look nonchalantly around the living room at family pictures and other things, all the while fearing that at any moment her father would return and he would have to actually talk to the man. He really wished she'd hurry up.

Yoshino didn't take long. She appeared having changed into a blue silk tunic with white trim and black hakima to go with it. He smiled appreciatively and she positively beamed. While she was changing he had actually had a weird image of her in something gaudy, flashy, with too much make-up and jewelry. Shikaku was relieved to see her looking great, just looking like herself.

She'd teased him, asking if he wanted barbeque again but he smirked back that one visit to the barbeque restaurant today was enough to last him for quite some time thank you very much. They agreed on sushi and left.

At the restaurant they chatted some more, much to Shikaku's amazement. There had been one extremely awkward moment when the magic SIXTEEN number had reared its cute little head again when it came time to order drinks and he realized she could only have soda. But the conversation had been fun nonetheless. It had always seemed like such an _effort _before to carry on a conversation with anyone. Too much work. He took great pride in the fact that the Ino-Shika-Cho team had progressed to the point in their relationship where most necessary communication could be carried out with a series of grunts or monosyllabic utterances with 'shit', 'piss', and 'fuck' sprinkled liberally throughout the day, sort of like verbal commas.

This conversation with Yoshino, however, required some effort on his part. To be clever. To pay attention to what she said. To respond. To not use 'shit', 'piss', and 'fuck' in all the normal places where he would have inserted them in what passed for a conversation with Inoichi or Chouza.

And it was actually…fun. He _wanted_ to hear what she had to say. He _wanted_ to see her eyes get all sharp if he did let the stray 'shit' or 'fuck' slip in, then soften back up when he would change it to something like 'sheesh' or 'freakin.'

For Yoshino, it was a thrill to be here with someone her father would absolutely disapprove of. Not that she was using Nara, of course not. She really liked the guy and she couldn't say why. Which made it really scary because any other time she'd had a crush on a guy before there had been some specific reason such as he was the cutest or the most handsome or the one that was the guy everybody else was crushing on that year. Shikaku was none of that. He was nice looking, sure, but certainly not "the" cutest or "the" most handsome. He was tall but not too tall, muscular but slender. So since there was no one thing she could put her finger on as to why she liked the guy she had to admit that it must be everything about him or else simply him. Which made it scary as all get out. She'd never felt this way about anyone before.

They'd finished dinner and sat awkwardly for a few minutes, Shikaku, with the word SIXTEEN still sneaking out and ambushing him every once in a while, feared she was going to say something awful like "curfew" or "bedtime" but fortunately she did not.

"Well, ah, thank you, Shikaku, dinner was lovely," she said, not wanting this to end.

He didn't either. "So, ah, do you need to get back home?" he asked and then hastily added, "Do you have an early mission tomorrow?"

"No, nothing particularly early," Yoshino answered, glad that he seemed to not want the evening to end, either.

"Well, we could go see a movie or something." As soon as the words left his lips he feared sitting through a chick flick for two hours. Why hadn't he suggested something else, just tea and dango or something?

"That would be nice," she said, waiting for him to suggest one.

"What would you like to see?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter, you pick."

Shikaku started to name something and then realized that every movie he knew that was out carried a "restricted rating," no one under seventeen admitted without parent. The last thing he wanted to do was to end up somewhere with her where she was carded. "Tell you what," he said hastily, "you name three you'd like and I'll pick which one out of that three – fair?" He was hoping that there were only two chick flicks at the multiplex so that he would at least have one viable option.

Yoshino nodded and then thought for a minute. He was probably expecting her to pick one of the chick flicks that was out. Bleah – why did guys always think those were "date movies"? Still, it was probably expected. She tried to think of the name of the current Princess-what's-her-face movie that was out. Misaka, that was it. Princess Misaka. She couldn't remember the name of the movie but the character was Princess Misaka. There was also some documentary that was out. Boring. But if she threw that out, plus the Princess Misaka movie and her third choice, then maybe he'd pick the one she really wanted to see.

"Well," she said, "There's a Princess Misaka movie that I've heard a lot of people talk about and then there's that documentary 'The Road to War' about the first shinobi war and then there's… the new Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari movie."

"Jiraiya Goketsu?" he asked. "There's a new one of those out?"

She nodded, her eyes positively beaming. "It's supposed to be really good, better than the junk from Ryoto Industries for the last twenty years or so. This one is being compared favorably to the Kurasawa versions from the fifties and is supposed to be the most complete production and most faithful to the original storyline from the 1850s. The actor in the lead role has actually played Jiraiya Goketsu on-stage in all five of the Great Nations. The special effects are supposed to be out of this world, they're done by Industrial Labs, the same people who did the Gojiro movies…"

Shikaku's eyes were crinkled up and he was smiling that lopsided smile at her once again.

Yoshino blushed. "Did I…did I say something wrong?"

He just laughed and smiled at her. "You sound just like Inoichi. Come on, that's the one. Let's go."


	3. Something About Yoshino

**Chapter 3: Something About Yoshino****  
**

Shikaku and Yoshino strolled casually down the street toward the cineplex. The night was warm and pleasant, grey-blue clouds back-lit by a full moon drifted across an indigo sky. The moon washed out all but the brightest stars, that and the glaring lights from the marquee as they approached the cinema.

Shikaku cringed – he saw two people approaching them from the other direction and they appeared headed toward the theater as well. Shit! Could this get any worse he wondered to himself. What they hell were _they_ doing here?

Chouza recognized Shikaku and raised one hand to wave to his friend simultaneously jabbing Inoichi viciously in the ribs with his other elbow.

"The fuck…!" Inoichi barked but Chouza jerked his head in the direction of Shikaku and Yoshino.

"Behave!" he hissed in a threatening tone.

Inoichi glanced at the girl with Shikaku. Not bad. Easy enough on the eyes although a little skinny for his tastes. Still, the closer to the bone the sweeter to the m…

Chouza glared at him. "Listen Inoichi," he continued in a lethal whisper, tugging the taller boy's jounin vest and bringing him to a full stop in mid-stride. "I do not _have_ to be able to work your mind-fuck jutsu to know what you're thinking. Do not EVEN try to steal this one from Shikaku! Don't even think about it."

Inoichi was smirking back at his friend and giving him his best 'who, me?' big blue eyes look. "Chouza, what are you saying? I would never…"

Shikaku and Yoshino had entered the ticket line, Shikaku keeping one wary eye on the squabble going on between his two friends.

"The hell you wouldn't! You've done it to him and me both. And what's worse about it is that none of them have meant a thing to you. You're just so damn competitive. You just want to get them in the sack, chalk up another notch on your kunai and then you're done with them. How many girls have you even slept with?"

Inoichi just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Who's keeping count?"

"Shit! Inoichi! That's just what I'm talking about. You are! You don't know their names, but I'll bet you DO know how many. Just as long as you're in the lead that's all that matters to you."

The blond haired young man softened his stance. Clearly, this last girl had meant something to Chouza, he'd obviously really stepped on a nerve there. "Look, Chouza, I'm sorry about…about…," Inoichi racked his brain trying to think of the girls name Ayami? Ayama? Aya? That was it! Aya! "I'm really sorry about Aya, guy. I won't let it happen again. Not to you. Not to Nara."

Chouza just shook his head. "You are so full of it, you know that Yamanaka? I'll believe it when I see it."

"Look, man, I said I'm sorry."

"Just forget it okay. Just forget it and leave Nara's girl alone. Alright?"

"Sure. I will. I promise."

Chouza sighed heavily. "Inoichi, my friend, do you know what I wish for you?"

"Whazzat?"

"I hope that you marry the most beautiful girl in Konoha."

"Yeah?" Inoichi grinned. "Thanks."

"Yes. And I hope that the two of you have the most abso-fucking-lutely beautiful daughter this town has ever seen. And that you lie awake at nights for the rest of your life wondering who's in her pants." Chouza smiled beatifically.

"That's cold, bro. That's really cold."

"Thanks." Chouza replied. "Come on, let's go get tickets."

Shikaku and Yoshino were at the refreshment counter by the time the two young men caught up with them. Shikaku sighed. It was inevitable. There was no way he was getting out of introducing them tonight.

As they took their purchases, he and Yoshino paused at the end of the line where Chouza and Inoichi were waiting. "Yoshino, these are my teammates, Chouza Akamichi and Inoichi Yamanaka. Guys, this is Yoshino Sakamoto."

Shikaku kept an eye on Inoichi as the three said a round of 'hellos.'

"So, what are you two here to see tonight, 'Princess Misaka?' " Inoichi asked.

Yoshino had to force herself not to roll her eyes. These guys were after all her date's teammates. Best to be polite to them.

"No, actually we're here for Jiraiya Goketsu," she replied.

Inoichi gave a half laugh, "How'd he talk you into that one?"

Shikaku started to reply but Yoshino spoke up crisply, "I suggested it." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her brows furrowed.

"Well, that was a nice thing for you to do," Inoichi said in a patronizing tone.

"Why do you say that?" she asked.

"Well, most girls I know wouldn't be interested in that type of movie…"

"Ahh, I see," she said smiling at him. "Well, maybe I'm not most girls."

Shikaku smiled to himself, realizing he couldn't tell if her smile was sweet or dangerous. He wondered what Inoichi would say next.

"Well, it's understandable, I guess, most girls are pretty taken with the leading man in this one."

Yoshino shook her head. "Maybe so, but I'm more interested in the plot line. It's supposed to be the production that's the most faithful to the original source material. Better even than the Kurasawa versions from the fifties."

"Kuroski."

"I beg your pardon?" Yoshino looked confused.

"Kuroski. Kuroski directed the fifties' version."

Yoshino scowled. "No, he directed the ones in 67, 68 and 71. Kurasawa did the fifties."

"Kuroski."

"Kurasawa."

"Kuroski."

"Kurasawa."

"Listen, blondie," she said with her hands on her hips. "You may _think_ you know something about the history of the genre, but trust me, you're wrong." Part of her was horrified that she'd just called one of her date's teammates, a jounin no less, "blondie." But another, more vocal part of her was damned if she was going to let this newbie misstate facts about her favorite fandom.

They bickered a bit more until Chouza and Inoichi made their purchases. The four of them made their way to seats, Shikaku keeping a careful eye on Inoichi, just in case. But when the opening montage of the film included a brief history and homage to the franchises that had gone before that vindicated Yoshino's position, Shikaku saw something he never thought he would have seen before in his friend's eyes. Adoration. Not lust. But adoration. It was almost as if Inoichi had found a long lost _sister_. And even though she spent as much time whispering plot points in Inoichi's ear as she did leaning comfortably against Shikaku, for the first time in his dating career he felt that Inoichi wasn't going to poach his girl.

It was freakin' weird.

After the movie let out, the four were on their way to the dango shop, Yoshino continuing to awe Inoichi with her font of useless knowledge about Goketsu trivialities. Inoichi looked at Shikaku and positively beamed. Shikaku thought he'd never seen his friend look more like a…a…puppy before.

"Shikaku, she's great! Where did you_ find_ her?"

Shikaku just shook his head. "I told you, you guys ditched me, left me for a mission to the Land of Rain," he looked down at Yoshino, and smirked, "and I got _stuck_ with her." She smiled back up at him.

They were at the door of the dango shop when two ANBU appeared as if from out of nowhere. The four stopped in their tracks as one ANBU raised his hand. "Chouza Akamichi?"

"Yes," Chouza answered carefully, wondering what this was all about.

"And Inoichi Yamanaka?" the ANBU asked turning his attention toward Shikaku's other friend. Inoichi simply nodded.

"You two were on a mission to the Land of Rain during the chuunin exams recently, is that correct?"

Both Chouza and Inoichi acknowledge that that was indeed correct.

"Can you come with us, please. We have some questions about that mission."

Chouza and Inoichi looked wide eyed at Shikaku and shrugged, then left with the two ANBU.

Yoshino and Shikaku went on in and split an order of dango. But there wasn't much conversation to speak of. Shikaku was obviously curious and concerned about what his friends were needed for. They left after only a very short while.

As they'd walked towards her home his hand had slipped down to hers and their fingers twined together. Her hand was small in his and warm, soft too. It just felt so…right.

The clouds had cleared somewhat and since they were not as prevalent, scattering the moonlight, more constellations were visible. He'd started to point some out to her, but foolishly realized that she would have obviously had the same academy classes in astronomy and navigation by night that he had. So they'd made a game of it, to see who could point out a constellation first.

It had worked well until she had said 'Corvus' and he thought she said 'Lepus'. He'd pointed one direction and she the other. This left them still holding hands on one side with their arms on the other side crossed. He took her right hand in his left and pulled her to him, seeing her face tipped up in the moonlight. He looked at her eyes, full of that same moonlight and thought that he could just fall right in. Dipping his face lower to hers he brushed his lips against hers.

When they pullled away from each other, her heart was hammering in her chest. When she'd been little, she'd found a baby bird once and held it in her hands trying to return it to its nest. She had felt its heartbeat racing beneath her fingertips. Yoshino wondered if Shikaku realized that's how her heart was sounding now.

"I, uh, I, uh, should be getting on home…now," she stammered.

He sighed and kissed the top of her head. "Okay." Then hand in hand they'd finished the walk back to her home.

They stood on her front porch, time to say goodnight. This time his hand that wasn't holding hers slid around to the small of her back, cinching her close to him. When she parted her lips beneath his and he slipped his tongue into her mouth tasting her, tracing and exploring her, she was thankful that he was holding her because she didn't think at that moment she could stand on her own. She swayed into him, circling both her hands behind his head, drawing herself up against him, opening her mouth more to let him probe more deeply with his tongue.

Her blood was thrumming in her veins, heat deep inside of her like she'd never felt before. He slid his hands down from the small of her back, over the curve of her butt, lifting her against him. Sliding his hands back up he slid them under her tunic, up her hips, fingers at the waistband of her hakima, his hands warm against her skin, fingers dipping hesitantly against the waistband and…

The porch light came on.

"I–I–I should go now," she stammered, pulling her face back from his but he still held her body tight against him.

Shikaku kissed his way across her cheek to rumble in her ear, "I'll see you tomorrow? In the mission assignment room?" His voice was hoarse, his beard scratching against her cheek, wonderfully rough.

"Yeah…um…yes…I'll…see you tomorrow," she whispered back to him, and the two of them pulled apart slowly, fingertips lingering, still touching as she turned to walk in the door.

Shikaku took a deep breath, standing on the porch. It was going to be a helluva a long time until tomorrow morning. He hoped Inoichi and Chouza were back from their meeting with the ANBU freaks. What the fuck was that all about, anyway?


	4. In Which A Plot Appears

**Chapter 4: In Which A Plot Appears**

Inoichi and Chouza rolled in about two a.m., Shikaku who had not been sleeping anyway, heard them come in and left his room to see what had happened with the ANBU. Chouza was taking a plate of leftover chicken out of the refrigerator and Shikaku saw that Inoichi was drinking milk out of the carton. Again. Shikaku just rolled his eyes and called him a slob, never noticing it was his own pile of assorted clean and dirty laundry he was stepping over as he walked into their small living room.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked cautiously. Something wasn't making sense here. The three of them had certainly screwed up on missions before, but he had no doubt that if it had been anything worthwhile his two friends would have told him about what fun he'd missed. He couldn't conceive of them getting into any truly ANBU-worthy level trouble. Certainly not if he'd heard nothing about it straight from his two best friends.

Inoichi answered first, shaking his head, "It was the damnedest thing, I don't think they were actually after _us_ for any particular reason, just had something to do with us being _in_ Rain."

Chouza chimed in, "Yeah, what streets we were on. Who did we see before and after meeting our contact. Did our contact see us with anybody. Just tedious, relentless boring questions over and over again. I can't tell you how many times they covered the same ground in…" he looked over at the clock, "shit, in four hours."

Shikaku sat leaning forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, thinking about what his friends were saying. "So, nothing else?"

"Well," Inoichi grinned sheepishly.

"Inoichi…" Shikaku hissed out having a bad feeling that he knew this was not going to be good.

"They took the weed he had on him, got the name of our seller, told us both we'd been bad boys and said we'd have our pay docked fifty percent for the mission," Chouza finished, joining in the conversation since there was no chicken left.

Now it was Shikaku's turn to scowl. Inoichi was right, this was odd.

"You told him who we buy from in Rain?" Shikaku snapped at Inoichi.

"No way, man, they already _knew. _They just showed us his picture, they had a mind jutsu member on their team. Just put the picture in front of us and that's all he needed – he knew we knew. "

"So then what happened?"

Chouza had gotten up and retrieved a bag of chips from the cabinet. Either he was actually getting full or the meeting had rattled him so much he was losing his appetite – he actually waved the bag toward the two others, offering them some chips first.

The red-head munched on a few chips then mumbled, "They took his grass."

"Yes, but, shit, since when does ANBU care anything about a little grass?" Shikaku asked. "Hell, half the time you can smell it on _them_ anyway."

"I don't know," Chouza mumbled thoughtfully through his chips. "It almost seemed like _having _the meeting with us was more important than whatever it was _supposed_ to be about. Like they just had to file a report or something. Dunno. Maybe they're on a quota system now and have to get their reports in by the end of the month."

Shikaku was trying to process all that his friends had just told him. They were right – this was damned odd. ANBU were, well ANBU, what the hell were they doing caring about something as penny-ante as this.

"Are you sure you guys didn't do something boneheaded in Rain? Piss off anybody while you were there?"

Chouza shook his head. Inoichi piped up, "Swear to god, Shikaku, it was boring as ever there."

"Inoichi, did you try to get a sense of what they…"

"Oh, no," Inoichi held up his hand, interrupting Shikaku. "No. Those guys are freaking _spooks. _ No fucking way was I going to go snooping around in any of _their_ heads, no matter how lightly I tiptoed. No. Fucking. Way. I value my own ass too much. And I do mean that literally."

Shikaku thought about this some more. Whatever the picture-wielding guy had done had certainly spooked Inoichi. He sighed, maybe his friend was just embarrassed about being tripped up so easily into giving up their seller. Whatever. He yawned and stretched, standing up. "C'mon guys, what's done is done. Probably nothing more to it. Betcha Chouza's right. They've probably got some quota of forms to fill out this month."

Although, Shikaku didn't believe one damn word of what he'd just said. The three friends said good night and went to their respective rooms. Shikaku lay awake for the longest time alternating between thinking of the deep warm pools of Yoshino's eyes and the brief flicker of fear he'd just seen in Inoichi's clear blue ones.

The next morning came far too soon for the three. There was the general scurrying around, bumping into each other and cursing the fact that _someone_ had finished off the last of the milk. Add to that the fact that the laundry had once again refused to put itself away so that they were scrounging through assorted piles sniffing to find the least recently worn articles of clothing. All in all it made for not a very good start on the day.

By the time they got to the mission room, it was packed. Normally they wouldn't have cared one way or the other. But Chouza and Inoichi were grateful that they were in the back of the room and could nod off, leaning against the wall until their names were called. Shikaku usually preferred the back of the room, too. But today he was dismayed to to find Yoshino all the way across from him in the crowded room. Assignments were already starting so he couldn't work his way over to her, at least until it thinned out some.

Damn! It just occurred to him that the lower ranked missions were usually handed out first, quicker way to thin out the room, plus leave only the more senior jounin in the room as more sensitive missions were discussed. There was a very good chance she'd be called out for the day before he could work his way over to her. He saw her look over her shoulder at him and smile when she saw him. He caught himself before he actually _waved_ at her. God, Inoichi and Chouza would never let him live that down. He simply nodded back at her.

Names were called out, people began to file to the exit, mostly genin, the majority of the brats cleared out in very short order. It looked like there was enough space for him to begin to weave his way through the remainder of the shinobi over to where Yoshino stood. "Look, I'll catch you guys later," he mumbled to Inoichi and Chouza. He rolled his eyes as he thought he heard Inoichi whisper 'whipped' behind him.

He hadn't gone more than two steps in her direction when Tsunade entered the room. "Excuse me, Morino-san," she called out to the administrator at the front of the room. "Have you given Shikaku Nara an assignment yet?"

As the older gentleman checked his list, Tsunade scanned the room. When her gaze landed on Shikaku, she brightened. "There you are Shikaku! I'm glad you haven't left yet. I need to ask you to come with me for the next few days. I've got a project that I'm going to need your help on."

Shikaku stopped dead in his tracks. On the surface, Konohagakure functioned as a fairly egalitarian society. However, if they did have anything close to royalty Tsunade was it. Granddaughter of the founder of the village, one of the three prized students of the current Hokage, world-renowned for her prowess in fighting and drop-dead gorgeous to boot. Yes, Tsunade was the closest thing Konoha was likely to see to a princess for some time. And although she didn't flout or abuse her position per se, she was still accustomed to getting her way.

"Oh, well," he started then paused, looking over at Yoshino, "sure." Really, it only made sense. Tsunade was a medical expert. He was an expert in his clan's encyclopedic knowledge of herbs, extracts and chemical compounds. He'd worked with her before on a lot of projects in the past. Of course Inoichi and Chouza knew all this. Unfortunately they also knew that she had been his first crush.

The dynamic duo were giggling behind him. Tsunade knew them as well, since she'd worked with Shikaku off and on the last couple of years. She leaned around Shikaku and waved at the two of them, "Hi guys," she said. Whether she intended it or not, her shift in position gave an even better view of her cleavage, to both Shikaku and his friends. Fortunately this shut Inoichi's whispered 'woot'. And fortunately too, it made a great view even greater.

Unfortunately, Shikaku caught sight of the expression on Yoshino's face from across the room. It was hard to categorize it, not mad, not sad, just somewhat…resigned. Which made it kind of sad in its own way.

Shit! First she had to run into Chouza and Inoichi in full-bore, head-on jerk-mode yesterday at the barbeque restaurant. Now Tsunade was hauling his ass out of here and he hadn't even gotten a chance to say good morning to Yoshino.

Sheesh. What did a guy have to do to spend time with a girl around here?


	5. What A Day For A Daydream

**Chapter 5: What a Day for a Daydream  
**

Yoshino had been assigned a C-ranked mission along with a couple of other chuunin she recognized, to provide guard coverage for a party of craftsmen, carpenters and stonemasons traveling to the Land Of Waves. The island country was experiencing a small construction boom and given its tiny size it did not have a large pool of skilled workers to draw from. So they had contracted out a lot of their job requirements and Yoshino was escorting a contingent from Konoha.

Yoshino found her partners to be pleasant but not very outgoing. Tsuyoshi was a young man of the Uchiha clan. He had the clan's characteristic dark hair and eyes. As far as personality went, though, Yoshino thought you could hold better conversations with the wall. He exchanged initial introductions with them all and then spoke hardly another word the entire trip. The third chuunin on the mission was a woman a few years older than her, Asako Miterashi. Yoshino liked Asako, she had been on several missions with her before. She was always pleasant and relaxed. Of course her calm nature took nothing away from her skills as a kunoichi. She was quite accomplished and Yoshino often wondered why she hadn't made jounin yet.

Since Asako was clearly the most senior of their trio there was no question as to who was taking point on the operation – Asako introduced them to their charges, explained some basic commands to the travelers so that they could respond to her quickly in the unlikely event she'd have to order them all to take cover. But that possibility did seem extremely remote, unless some bandits were after the tools of various trades the craftspeople had all been wise enough to leave any valuables at home and just pack the tools they'd need with them.

So, formalities completed, they were underway. Normally Yoshino would have initiated a conversation with Asako just to pass the time. But today she took the opportunity to reflect back over what had happened last night.

Shikaku had kissed her.

Well, that was to be expected, it had been a date after all.

She frowned to herself. Of course, he had seemed to be going out of his way to make sure his friends knew it was _not_ a date.

But then, the second time that night, after dinner, when they'd run into Chouza and Inoichi again, he hadn't seemed to mind at all. As a matter of fact, he'd seemed a little possessive – especially around Inoichi. Which was kind of cool. Of course only "kind of cool" because fundamentally that was _objectifying_, wasn't it? 'To be the object" of his affection? And wasn't that a Very Bad Thing? Every issue of Cosmopolitan Kunoichi she'd ever read said so. She supposed it had a lot to do with whether one _wanted _to be objectified in that way. If the objectify-ee wanted to be the object of affection for the objectify-or then that was okay, wasn't it? If you didn't _object_? Of course it was hard to be objective about this when you were the object at the center.

Yoshino grinned to herself at the silliness of her train of thought. She only thought the grin was to herself, however, Asako caught her and smiled.

"Oi, Yoshino – is your head in the game? Or in the clouds, ne?"

Yoshino shook her head and smiled sheepishly. Of course Asako was right, even though it was only a C-ranked mission these people deserved her full attention if she was going to protect them. "Sorry, Asako-san," she replied. "I'll stay more focused."

Asako just smiled and shook her head. She'd been sixteen once, she knew the symptoms. Clearly there was a boy involved.

"So, who is he?" she asked, sidling up to Yoshino who she'd put in the lead. They were still well close enough to Konoha's borders, the odds of them encountering any danger here was astronomically small. So she took the opportunity to see what she could get Yoshino to spill.

This time Yoshino didn't just smile, she smiled _and_ blushed. How embarrassing. There wasn't anything to tell. Not really. Dinner and a movie and a couple of kisses, nothing more. If Asako was looking for juicy gossip she was going to be sorely disappointed. And there was a small part of Yoshino inside that was disappointed, too. She hadn't wanted the night to end at all. "His name is Shikaku Nara but I'm sorry Asako, no gossip, just dinner and a movie."

Asako grumbled good-naturedly about there must have been_ something _to take her mind off the mission like that.

Thinking back about kissing him goodnight Yoshino remembered just how much she'd never wanted it to end. She'd turned toward the door and walked away but their fingertips remained touching as long as possible She almost felt each individual finger slide off his as she stepped away. And he'd not wanted it to end either, had he? It took two to hold hands that way, to hold on that way.

Yoshino shook her head to clear the mist. Best not to think any more about it, she chided herself inwardly. She'd probably never even see him again. One date. That was all it was. It was fun. It was nice. It was over.

Yoshino sighed again. It _had_ been really nice. And even if she _didn't_ see him again (and she really _wished_ she would) she'd still have plenty of time on this mission to daydream.

She touched her cheek where his evening's stubble had scratched across her face and she could still hear his voice rumble in her ear, thrilling, that he'd see her tomorrow.

Well, today _was_ tomorrow now and it was looking extremely unlikely that they'd be able to see each other at all, seeing how she was expected to be traveling or in Wave for the next 5-7 days.

And Shikaku was working with Tsunade.

Meanwhile, back at Tsunade's new lab, Shikaku was surveying the new equipment. He whistled. This must have cost a fortune. He asked her about it.

"The Council funded it. You'll see why once we get started and I give you a briefing of what all's going on. But for now, suffice it to say, it's your tax dollars at work." She stood with her hands on her hips proudly surveying her new domain.

Shikaku appreciated the pose. Hell, what red-blooded shinobi wouldn't?

But alas, they had work to do. He helped her unpack several boxes containing even more equipment and searched around on countertops for places to set it down. One of the boxes contained something so funny he almost laughed out loud.

It was a tray of test tubes, beakers, graduated cylinders and ehrlenmeyer flasks in assorted sizes.

He remembered how he'd grumbled the first time, years ago, when Tsunade had him clean the test equipment and put it back. This had been over 5 years ago. He'd grumbled until he'd realized that task actually had its upsides. First, to put them away after he'd washed them required him carrying them across the lab. Each transit of the lab gave him an opportunity to 'accidentally' bump into Tsunade. Shikaku wondered how much glassware had been sacrificed to teenage lust.

The second and probably more important thing was that it made Tsunade happy. The entire lab ran much more smoothly if Tsunade was happy. He'd seen what happened to a lab when she was unhappy and decided he did not want to be around for a repeat performance. Whatever had angered her had happened on an A-ranked mission she was on that had gone wrong back when he was a chuunin. He never got the full details about it but he knew that it involved kids. He also knew that he probably did not want the details of the story. So from that day forward Shikaku had endeavored to keep the lab organized.

Inoichi and Chouza wouldn't be able to believe this was the same lazy Shikaku who left crap laying all around their apartment. But they just wouldn't understand. Even though it took _work_ to keep the lab organized, it was actually _less_ work than if you had to spend the energy looking for shit all the time.

And besides, it made Tsunade happy.

Tsunade was studying Shikaku, smiling and remembering what an absolute klutz he was when they both worked together at the beginning. Shit, her glassware bill had been through the roof and she'd had to beg the council for more budget. It was good to see he had outgrown some of the awkwardness.

In the past, Shikaku would have noticed a gaze like that if she were to fix it upon him. But not today – he was too caught up in his own daydream. Okay, so maybe it wasn't actually a daydream, maybe it could more accurately be described as memories of last night.

He was remembering everything about her, about Yoshino. How she looked, how she felt, how she tasted.

How she fit. The top of her head just came up to his chin. Her hand had fit so perfectly in his. when he wrapped his arms around her and she had leaned forward to him, pressing her body against his she had just fit so well, like she belonged.

Tsunade was getting impatient. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping one foot on the floor. Let him daydream on his own time she thought.

"Oi, Shikaku, are you going to put those away this century so that we can get started?"

Her sharp voice startled him out of his reverie.

He let go of the box of glassware he was holding and heard it go crashing to the ground.


	6. So Far Away From Me

**Chapter 6: So Far Away From Me**

Shikaku yawned and stretched. It was getting to be late in the evening, he wondered when Tsunade would be ready to call it a night.

Looking around the lab he did take a measure of pride in the work they had done getting the lab ready and the equipment set up over the last three days. Well, after he'd cleaned up the broken glass. He was proud of his work _since_ then.

Most of it had been pretty standard stuff, not much different than you'd see in one of the chemistry labs back at the Academy, tubes, flasks, gas spectrometers.

The building also had a reverse pressurized room with two separate levels of keyed entry required for access. Now _that _had been interesting. He'd never worked in one of those before and the little "push" of the air as you entered the room, plus the slight popping in your ear made you pay attention to the fact that there was some scary shit that was going to be going on here. There wouldn't be a room like this if there wasn't a reason for it. And the reason was to keep things 'in' that had better not get 'out'.

The work had been slow going because it had only been the two of them working on it. He thought about asking Tsunade about that but then decided against it. There was only one obvious answer – the fewer people in here, the better.

The days had been long but the work interesting. And the pay was ridiculously good, too – A-rank and he really couldn't see a reason for it. The building was complete, but empty, they were essentially a two-shinobi moving-installing-cabling-testing-debugging-stocking-system-checking crew. Of course the answer to the pay scale question was obvious, too – keep your mouth shut Shikaku.

That was easy enough – he didn't know jack shit anyway, only that Tsunade looked like a kid in a candy shop. Except every once in a while when she thought he wasn't looking he'd catch her with her thumbnail at her lips. He realized then that for the first time in his life she had nine perfectly lacquered nails and one ragged thumbnail.

Extremely scary shit was going to be going on here. Fuck. And the fewer people who knew about it the better.

So, since he'd been such an_ idiot_ showing off in front of Tsunade back when he was 14 and first working with her, she knew that he was capable of pretty much anything she might need setup wise. So she'd picked him as her one-person go-to guy. Wasn't that just like a woman? Hauling out something from four or five years ago and using it to her advantage?

He slumped onto a stool wishing she would just call it quits for tonight. Shit it must be after 1a.m. They'd been here since 7 in the morning until after midnight for the third day straight. He closed his eyes and leaned his head to one side, stretching the muscles in his neck.

He might be peeved that his past had come back to haunt him but he was actually very glad of the work, not just for the pay but because it kept him busy during the day and too tired during the night to dwell on Yoshino too much.

He missed her.

He actually missed her.

How was it possible to still be missing a girl after three days when you'd only ever spent 8 hours with her in your entire life? Four hours the night they were grading the exams and four hours on that incredibly awkward first date that Chouza and Inoichi, plus the fucking ANBU had screwed up. Shit, he hadn't even gotten to say anything to her before she left.

He yawned again and let his head slump forward toward his chest just a little bit. Maybe he'd just close his eyes for a few minutes while Tsunade decided either what she wanted to do next or else it was time to go home.

He was peacefully relaxed, thinking about kissing Yoshino when he felt two soft warm hands on his shoulders and he jerked his eyes open.

"Shikaku, I'm sorry, I've kept you here too much. You're exhausted." And those two soft warm hands began to knead his knotted muscles at his neck and shoulders, healing chakra slowing seeping in from her hands to relax them.

Somewhere, there was an inner-15-year-old Shikaku exclaiming "Tchaa! Tsunade's touching me and I didn't even have to bump into her!"

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Shikaku was struggling half-heartedly to maintain control, uttering internal exclamations to himself like 'Down, boy!' But it was only a half-hearted attempt, really. And when she moved her hands further down his back, running thumbs down and pressing gently along his shoulder blades he closed his eyes and thought that maybe he could just dissolve into a puddle right here and now.

He closed his eyes again wondering if he dared to lean his head back. Because if he did he could have _his_ head pillowed on Tsunade's _tits_. Talk about your wildest fantasies!

He was just planning his motions out – lean his head a little to the right as if stretching the muscles there, then back just a little bit like he was rolling to the other side and pausing somewhere in the middle of that circuit and bingo! His head would be on Tsunade's…

"Careful, kid, she's a maneater," came a booming baritone voice followed by a deep chuckle.

Shikaku's eyes jerked open at this most unwelcome intrusion and he nearly jerked up out of the chair but Tsunade, with both her hands still on his shoulders pushed him back down.

"Shikaku, sit still!" she ordered. She leaned over him almost possessively and he felt her breasts against his back. Nirvana achieved and he couldn't even savor his moment of bliss. Damn. Life sucked.

"Actually, I hear she prefers _boys_," a second voice spoke in a soft tenor accompanied by it's own faint laugh.

"Well, then, that makes _two_ of us, doesn't it Orochimaru?" she snapped back, standing up and pushing away from Shikaku with a flick of her wrist that tumbled him out of his chair.

"Sheesh, Tsunade, don't treat the kid like that," Jiraiya said, stepping over and extending a hand to help Shikaku to his feet.

"So, you admit you prefer boys?" Orochimaru smirked, "Guess you were right Jiraiya, Dan_ is_ her boy-toy. How much do I owe you?"

"I dunno, Oro," Jiraiya laughed, looking at Shikaku, "This one's got a beard. Straddling the fence between men and boys, hmmm, Hime?"

"Straddling something," Orochimaru agreed. Shikaku felt the tips of his ears go pink.

"Shut the fuck up, creeps!" Tsunade huffed.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsunade, not in front of the children," Jiraiya chastised, winking at Orochimaru.

Shikaku rubbed his eyes. Here he was about to achieve heaven on earth – _his _head on _Tsunade's_ tits. And who knew what other wonders might follow. And it had to be interrupted by her _teammates?_ The _legendary_ sannin? Who were now standing in front of him bickering and calling each other names the way _he_ did with Chouza and Inoichi.

Shit, piss and double damn fuck. He was too tired for this shit.

"So what are you two assholes doing in my lab at 1:30 in the morning?" Tsunade asked.

"We bring you offerings, oh Princess of Bitch-a-lot," Jiraiya said, enjoying watching Tsunade fume.

"That's right, Lady On-the-Rag," Orochimaru chimed in, sidling closer to Jiraiya just in case they pushed Tsunade too far and she decided to take it out of both their hides. "We have what you seek." And he held out a small plastic bag containing two bright green pills.

Instantly she was all business. "These are the ones from Wave?" she asked Orochimaru who nodded.

Jiraiya held out a similar bag and answered before she asked, "And these are the ones from Rain."

Tsunade held them in each hand. "Shikaku, why don't you go on? I'll get these labeled with Orochimaru and Jiraiya and we can start again in the morning." Her voice took on a somber tone, "I'll fill you in on what this is all about, then, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Shikaku answered, yawning. "See you in the morning."

He sauntered back home, entering the apartment quietly so as not to disturb his roommates if they were home. Shit. He didn't even know if they were home. He thought about checking their rooms but decided that would be a little too parental. He hadn't seen either of the two of them for three days. He hadn't seen Yoshino either. He thought about getting a beer out of the refrigerator, but decided against it since he'd have to be up in four fucking hours anyway.

Shikaku went to his room and stretched out on his bed, still in his clothes, the last thought he had was he wondered what Yoshino was up to in Wave. That was where Orochimaru's "sample" had come from. What was going on there? And Rain, wasn't that where Jiraiya's sample had come from? The same place the ANBU had been so interested in when Chouza and Inoichi had returned from there. What was up? What missions were Chouza and Inoichi on? He'd have to check the board tomorrow.

And what was Yoshino doing?

Was anything major going on in Wave?

His dreams that night were a tangled mess of black and gold hair.


	7. Missing You

**Chapter 7: Missing You  
**

One bad thing about her current assignment, Yoshino discovered, was the downtime. Oh, if you had to be off duty, then the islands were certainly a great place to be, unfortunately, you didn't get paid for it.

That wasn't precisely correct, she'd discovered. They did get a per diem allowance since they were out of town due to the mission. But the mission itself involved escort duty. Once the tradespeople were actually at their destination, the shinobi weren't actually escorting – so no duty – no duty pay. As soon as the clients were satisfied they had a good working environment they would probably arrange a routine transfer service between the two villages so that the shinobi escorting the in-bound crews could turn right back around and take the departing crews back to Konoha, maybe on a two week cycle. The goal would be a couple of teams of tradespeople, a couple of teams of shinobi escorts bi-weekly.

But for now, she, Asako and Tsuyoshi were stuck here for three more days while the crew settled in and verified that their working conditions were acceptable.

Boring.

Asako had negotiated a little bit extra for them by offering their services as sentries for the tools and supplies they'd brought with them from Konoha. The crew chief agreed it was a good idea, not because crime was particularly bad there, but just because there was so much activity going on it would be hard for them to keep an eye on their own things. Since the village was already full to bursting with tourists and construction people, they'd established a small camp at the edge of town and one shinobi was always on duty there so that the villagers would feel comfortable leaving the belongings they had brought with them.

This afternoon, guard duty had fallen to Tsuyoshi. That left Yoshino with the whole day free. She was wondering how to use it and considering she didn't have much money to spend she was leaning towards just relaxing on the beach for the day. Yoshino rummaged around in her rucksack and found her swimsuit. Preparing to change in the tent she shared with Asako she was interrupted by her roommate's return.

"Oi, Yoshino, how do you want to spend your birthday?"

Yoshino brightened, "How did you know?" She'd been deliberately trying to not think about it. It's not like she was a little kid anymore, needing a cake or anything like that. Still it was nice that someone remembered.

Asako just shrugged and winked at her. "I'm a good team leader – try to stay up on all my team member's stats. So, what do you want to do? Beach? Shopping? Or since the pay for this sucks and everything in this town is at tourist trap prices, maybe just window shopping."

Grinning, Yoshino agreed that window shopping would be the best. She put her swimsuit back and the two women headed into town after letting Tsuyoshi know where they would be.

They'd wandered aimlessly through the shops that lined the streets, starting with those nearest the ocean and working their way back into the heart of the town. Yoshino noticed that all the children's shops were catching Asako's eye. She remembered that Asako had a daughter but was ashamed that she couldn't recall how old she would be by now. In light of Asako even remembering her birthday, this made Yoshino feel pretty low for not having more information herself about the people she was traveling with.

"So, um, Asako, how old is your daughter now?" Yoshino asked.

"Anko? She's four now, hard to believe she'll be starting school this fall." It was Asako's turn to brighten and babble happily about Anko's antics. She may have sounded happy, but Yoshino could tell she must miss her, being away like this. She questioned her about it.

Asako shrugged. "You do what you have to do. "

Yoshino hesitated, full of questions, but unsure quite how to go about asking them. "Yes, but…"

"Not because I _have_ to have to in order support us. I mean, in a way, I guess that is true because it's my job but I could probably get another job. But, it's hard to explain. It's different for everybody I guess. I have to because I'm a shinobi, because just about everyone in my family as far back as I can remember were shinobi. Not all of them, mind you, but the majority. And, it's who I am, it's what _I _have to do to be me."

"Don't you miss her?" Yoshino asked, remembering her mom home every day when she came home from school.

For just an instant she saw a flicker of anger in Asako's eyes but it quickly passed. "Of course I _miss_ her. I miss her every day I'm away from her. I would venture to guess that your mom misses you, too, when you're gone. Like today, on your birthday?" As soon as she said it she saw the flicker of pain in Yoshino's eyes and Asako regretted how catty it had come out.

"Look, Yoshino, I'm sorry about that. But yes, I do miss Anko, but would she be better off if I were at home but not _me_? Do you see what I'm saying?"

Yoshino nodded. "I'm sorry too, that didn't come out right. I guess what I should have said is how do you manage?"

Asako laughed. "Be sure to marry a man with a large family and young parents. You'll have plenty of aunts and uncles to share the load, your kid will be a lot happier with a passel of cousins to spar around with and your highest priority mission in life once the baby gets here will be transporting it to and from the grandparent's house."

Camaraderie restored, they went into a children's boutique and picked out a pink frog coin purse for Anko.

The next store caught Yoshino's attention. It was a ladies clothing store with stunning displays in the window. Asako caught the look in Yoshino's eye.

"Come on, we're goin' in," she grinned, grabbing Yoshino by the elbow.

Yoshino resisted. "No, honestly Asako, I couldn't afford anything in there, I'm sure."

"Window shopping, remember? We don't have to buy anything but we can sure as hell have fun trying on, right?"

Yoshino relented. Inside was a bewildering display. Yoshino wandered among exquisite kimonos, elaborate haori, obi, hakima all in the richest silks and most elaborate patterns she'd ever seen.

Asako was teasing her, holding up one gaudy outfit after another. Yoshino just shook her head at each one, trying hard not to giggle at Asako's outrageous suggestions.

But then, Asako held up one that took Yoshino's breath away. Completely un-gaudy, it was actually rather plain until you looked closely at it. Rich, deep blue, it was a sleeveless tunic with a high collar, silvery-white piping around the edges, hem and sleeve. A dragon was embroidered on it, a single silver thread tracing the outline of the creature among clouds. It was very understated, but Yoshino thought it was very elegant. Holding it in her hand she felt the silk spill like water through her fingers.

"I think this is the one," Asako laughed, seeing how Yoshino was mesmerized by it. "Why don't you go try it on?"

The saleslady was happy to assist them finding an appropriate black hakima to go with it, same rich liquid feeling silk. Of course, once she had it on, Yoshino knew she just had to have it, even it meant returning from the entire mission with a netzero gain to her bank balance. Looking at herself in the mirror she couldn't help wondering if Shikaku would like how she looked in it. She lifted the hem of the tunic, feeling the cool silk between her fingers and wondering, too, if he'd like how she _felt_ in it. Giddy, she would never admit to anyone but herself that the embroidered clouds reminded her of the night they'd kissed before she left.

After she'd paid for her purchase, they realized they'd been gone for several hours and it was time to return so that one of them could relieve Tsuyoshi.

When they returned, they found Tsuyoshi leaning up against a tree with that sullen, disinterested look that seemed to be characteristic of Uchiha. He was good looking enough, but the problem was, everything about his demeanor said that he knew it and you should too.

He spoke more words than she'd heard him utter the entire trip. "Hey, Yoshino, I hear it's your birthday. If Asako will take watch tonight, I'll take you to dinner."

Yoshino stood there, not quite knowing what to say. He wasn't asking her to dinner. As a matter of fact, the way he'd phrased it all he'd ask was for Asako to stand guard, and that not very politely. The presumption being that she'd go, that she'd _want_ to go.

"Oh, go on," Asako poked her shoulder. "I don't mind standing watch tonight. You two go on."

"Yes, um, okay, um, thank you, Tsuyoshi," Yoshino stammered, not really looking forward to this at all but not seeing a way out of it.

"Wear something nice, " he said in an offhand, dismissive kind of way, "I know a great restaurant."

Yoshino was still holding her parcel as she slipped into the tent. It was a ridiculous thought, she knew, but the outfit was special to her. She didn't have anything else on the trip to wear though. But still, she'd kind of bought it with Shikaku in mind, wanting him to see her in it. The fact of the matter was, though, that they'd only had one date. What if they never even went out again? One date. That's all it was. She sighed. Today was her birthday after all. She might was well wear it today.

Dinner turned out to be every bit as bad as Yoshino feared. Not that the restaurant wasn't great, it was. But other than ordering, Tsuyoshi had hardly spoken more than ten words. The walk back was even worse, he kept brushing up against her shoulder, crowding her. She kept inching away, but he inched with her. Yoshino rolled her eyes in the darkness. They were back at the camp he didn't _honestly_ think she was…

Then two ham-fisted hands were on her upper arms, pulling her close to him, mouth covering hers, tongue rammed down her throat and…

Yoshino stamped hard on his instep and jumped away as he yowled. "Bitch! What was that for?"

"What was _that_ for you jerk!" she hissed back.

Asako came around the corner. Yoshino looked at her in concern, even in the moonlight she looked, ashen, shaken.

"Keep it down, you two. The clients are asleep." Her voice quavered. "Look, Yoshino, you're going to have to relieve me, now. I must be coming down with something. And what ever just now happened – it's over. You two got that?"

Tsuyoshi offered a muttered 'hai' and sulked off to his tent.

Yoshino ducked into their tent and quickly changed. Asako seemed to be trembling even more just in the few minutes it had taken her to change. "Asako, are you okay? Do you want me to get a doctor?" Yoshino asked with concern in her voice.

Asako brushed her away. "Nah, just coming down with something that's all. Get me a couple of aspirins out of the med-kit would you?" Yoshino quickly hurried to comply. As she handed them to her, Asako said, "You go ahead and take point until sunrise, I'll see you in the morning. And be sure and put on some insect repellent. The mosquitos are murder tonight."

Yoshino obeyed her team captain's orders and took her post. As she sat beneath the moonlit sky, watching the constellations wheel overhead she thought of that evening with Shikaku that seemed like forever ago, even though it was only three days. She sighed, wondering if Shikaku was thinking about her at all. Did he miss her the way she was missing him right now? Morosely she realized that the answer to that question was 'probably not.' After all, he was working with Tsunade.


	8. Tsunade Explains It All

**Chapter 8: Tsunade Explains It All  
**

Shikaku woke up and looked at the clock. Shit! Late. Best not to keep Tsunade waiting. He scrounged around in a drawer for a clean shirt and realized they were all worn and strewn around the room, some more worse for the wear than others.

Shit. They were seriously going to have to do some laundry soon. Well, Inoichi and Chouza weren't back yet. He'd pilfer what he could. Wandering into Inoichi's room, he yanked a (hopefully) clean black t-shirt out of the drawer. No time for breakfast, he sprinted on over to the lab.

Now he was sitting on the same stool he'd tumbled off of last night when Jiraiya and Orochimaru showed up and Tsunade was explaining the significance of the pills the two of them had brought her last night. And Shikaku was leaning with one elbow propped up on the acid-resistant countertop, his chin resting on his hand and his eyes drooping.

"Shikaku! Are you listening to me?" Tsunade's voice was sharp. He sat up straight, stifling a yawn.

"Yes, umm… so they're like soldier pills?" he asked hopefully, seeming to recall that she'd said something about that a little bit ago.

She stood with her hands on her hips like she had last night only this time she was facing him, glaring at him. She took a deep breath in exasperation and he really should have appreciated the gesture more but he was just too tired.

"No! They are not like soldier pills! There's a world of difference…I…did you have any breakfast?" Her voice softened just a little bit then, seeing how he was looking at her with his eyes wide open almost as if he was afraid that if he blinked he'd fall asleep.

Shikaku wave his hand, "S'all right, I'll get something later."

"No, you'll get something now. Come on, you need to eat." And with a firm grasp on his elbow that brooked no negotiation, she got him up off the stool and steered him out the door.

A little bit later, they were finishing up the last bites of breakfast and tea at a shop in the village. Shikaku had to admit that the caffeine had done wonders. He wondered if there was a coffee-maker in the few remaining boxes of equipment yet to be unpacked. If not, he might need to pick one up and bring it in. Especially if she was going to be having him keep the same schedule they'd been running at so far.

They were just about to leave when Jiraiya showed up. "Kid, you lucky devil, you must have done something right if you've got her buying you breakfast," he joked good-naturedly as he slid into the booth next to Shikaku, effectively trapping him.

Tsunade held her tea cup to her lips with both hands, peering at Jiraiya over the top of it like a hawk. The ragged fingernail was glaring to Shikaku, reminding him that this was serious and that he really should try to keep it together.

"What are you doing here, baka!" she snapped.

"Ah, Hime-_sensei,_ I didn't want to miss your _lesson_ this morning. I showed up at the lab but you weren't there. Imagine my surprise to find you two breakfasting together." Jiraiya spoke softly now, toning down the bombastic comments Shikaku had heard from him so far. The white-haired sannin reached up and gently took Tsunade's right hand, the one with the torn nail and coaxed it down from the cup. He held her hand in his, stroking the back with his thumb.

Then with a playful, upturned smirk Jiraiya had added, "Guess I should have known after last night, _sensei._"

Almost, Shikaku noted, it had _almost_ worked. He'd seen her eyes go so soft when Jiraiya took her hand. Then the big goof had to go and throw that zinger at her, at his expense, too, he might add. And bam! Her eyes had gone from soft to steel in nothing flat. She'd jerked her hand away so fast she'd nearly spilled her tea. But why had he done it on purpose?

"Bastard!" she hissed under her breath. A couple of the patrons in the booth next to them still turned their heads in their direction. "You know there's nobody but Dan."

"Oh, really Hime?" He smiled and brushed one hand against Shikaku's shoulder where a wayward strand of long blond hair lay.

"Wait… No… Shit… Hey, this is Inoichi's shirt!" Shikaku spluttered. "I was just borrowing it! I haven't had time to do laundry!"

Jiraiya clapped his shoulder in a friendly fashion. "No need to explain to me, kid." Tsunade just rolled her eyes and muttered something into her tea cup.

"Okay, Jiraiya, you've had your fun, now seriously what brings you here this morning."

"Seriously, Tsunade, I came to hear your explanation to your…assistant."

"But you already know…"

"I know," he replied, leaning back against the booth. "I just want to hear what you tell him." His gaze with hers was level, steady when he added, "and what you don't."

Tsunade sighed. "Fine. Come on, let's get going."

The three of them made it back to the lab. Shikaku felt he would never understand what was going on between the two sannin. One minute they were cutting up with each other, calling each other names like last night when they were behaving like him and his two teammates. Then this morning there seemed to be all sorts of unresolved sexual tension between the two of them (completely UNLIKE anything between him, Inoichi and Chouza he added hastily to himself.)

Back in the lab, Tsunade got down to business. Now that he had some caffeine in his system and his blood sugar wasn't plummetting, Shikaku was able to pay attention to what she was saying.

The pills were like soldier pills only in that they provided a boost of sorts, but not to chakra in general. They were targeted to enhance specifically the chakra and those brain centers most closely involved in genjutsu. The pills appeared to be able to provide basic genjutsu performance levels to those shinobi who previously had exhibited no predispostion for genjutsu at all. For those who were already genjutsu adept they could provide an incredible amount of power.

Tsunade paused in her explanation at that point and looked at Jiraiya almost as if she were expecting him to contradict her. "Jiraiya? Did you have anything to add?"

He shrugged, "I told you, I just came to listen."

Tsunade looked uncomfortable but continued on. "Yes, well, for experienced genjutus users, the power boost appears to be off the charts, surreal, almost…" she floundered and looked again at Jiraiya.

"Poor man's Tsukyomi," Jiraiya added softly.

Shikaku straightened up, watching Tsunade's reaction. She looked down at the floor, unable to meet Jiraiya's eyes. When she finally did look up at them again, her eyes were haunted, scared. Of what? Shit. Tsukyomi. He'd heard of that but for the life of him couldn't remember what the fuck it was. He'd have to ask Inoichi whenever the blonde finally hauled his ass back into Konoha.

Then a chill ran down his back as he remembered Inoichi and his ANBU _spook_. And just where _had_ Tsunade and Jiraiya gotten their information about what these pills were capable of?

"So that's the gist of it then – a soldier pill type of boost for genjutsu users?" he ventured to ask.

"Well, there is one other difference…," Jiraiya offered.

"They're addictive." Tsunade said flatly. "Soldier pills aren't. People might develop a bad habit of using soldier pills, but all in all the downside after the rush wears off and the chakra depletion sets in a day or two later is usually enough to even prevent that from happening. I've seen a couple of cases of soldier pill habit, but for the vast majority of shinobi they only use them when they really need them and only for their intended purpose." She shook her head and poked at one of the little pills. "These things are addictive – physiological dependence. And once you start it appears that you have to keep it up or…you die."

"Where do they come from?" Shikaku asked.

"That's what we're here for – to find out who's producing them. And possibly come up with a way to interfere with the physiological characteristics while…" her voice trailed off, "still preserving the genjutsu-psycho-pharmacological attributes." Her voice had trailed off and her gaze had trailed away to the side of the room opposite Jiraiya.

The white-haired man sat very still, studying his teammate quietly for a few minutes. He cleared his throat and asked, "Are you, um, are you done, Hime?"

"Yes," she answered very softly.

"Okay, well, then, I guess that wraps up the lesson for today, sensei," Jiraiya said, rising to his feet, the good-natured tone in his voice sounding false and hollow to Shikaku's ears this time. "See you 'round kid."

Jiraiya had made his way to the door when Tsunade's soft voice stopped him, "Jiraiya, I'll…I'll see you later, okay?"

Shikaku sat very still observing the two, Tsunade never looked up from the floor and Jiraiya never turned from the door, his back to her, his hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah, sure, Hime, you know where you can find me," he said without once turning around.

Shikaku had no idea why, but it seemed like he had just witnessed the saddest thing he'd ever seen in his entire life.


	9. Hold Me Now

**Chapter 9: Hold Me Now  
**

Shikaku looked at the clock, 1am again, shit! This was becoming surreal. He didn't know why Tsunade didn't just order up a cot and keep him there around the clock. He grinned, now that would give them something to talk about, wouldn't it? Inoichi, Chouza, heh, Jiraiya, yeah, let 'em talk.

Tsunade was waiting impatiently at the door yet again, tapping her foot, hurrying him up. Just like a woman, he thought, keep you there forever, then when it's time to go it's time to go and why the hell aren't _you _ready yet?

He searched around for his house keys, where the hell had he left them? Briefly, Shikaku thought about waving her on, he'd find the damn house keys and lock up later. Then he caught himself. Stupid Nara.

Starting today, it took two keys to open the lab door, two keys to lock it. Tsunade had one, he had the other. There had to be two people in the lab at all times. Of course, the stated reason for this was that it reduced the chances of someone stealing a key and entering – they'd have to steal two keys from two separate shinobi. The unstated, and therefore real reason, though was that there always had to be two of you in the lab – keeping an eye on each other.

He found the keys and walked out with Tsunade to lock up. They bid each other good night, agreed to meet at 7(again!) in the morning and then went their separate ways. The cool night air was refreshing, it woke him up, even if just for a bit.

He thought he'd do something he'd been meaning to do for a couple of days now, since Monday, and that was to check out the duty roster and find out where Yoshino was, and Inoichi and Chouza too, while he was at it. He sauntered on over to the mission assignment room, there was always somebody there who could look it up for him.

Once in the room, he scanned the list, looking for Yoshino Sakamoto and found her name and that she was listed out on escort duty to Wave for a couple more days. And as another interesting note, he saw that yesterday was her birthday. Well, actually, day-before-yesterday since it was now past freaking midnight. But still, he thought, it would give him one more reason to ask her out again when she got back.

He saw that Inoichi and Chouza were out until tomorrow (today, tonight, whatever, dammit he was tired!) They'd had to courier some scrolls to Amagakure. Must be fairly important documents if they were using two jounin just for courier duty. It nagged at him that they'd been sent back to Rain. Probably just coincidence, he was just tired, dreaming stuff up.

He yawned and stretched and poured himself half a cup of the noxious brew in the coffee pot that had undoubtedly been sitting there for several hours. After one sip he winced and poured the rest down the drain. Hell, he didn't care if he fell asleep walking home, no way was he drinking that. It wasn't worth lying awake jazzed up if you were jazzed on motor fuel. Bleah.

Just then he turned around and saw… Yoshino. A very disheveled Yoshino with red-rimmed eyes. There was some tall dark-haired guy with her and they were being accompanied by a mission debriefing specialist. This did _not _look good. Something must have gone wrong.

He hurried over to her and spoke, "Hey, Yoshino, you back early?"

She turned toward him, "Oh, Shikaku, we…we…we had a casualty, a death on the team. On team leader…" her voice trailed off.

"Who?" he asked. Damn. This was never good news. But what could have happened? They were just shepherding a bunch of construction people. He hadn't heard of anything of concern going on in the area.

"It was… Asako, Asako Miterashi did you know her?"

He shook his head. The name was somewhat familiar but he really didn't know her. "What happened?' he asked.

"She was…she was sick…night before last. I was on guard duty that night. She wasn't feeling well when I left to stand my post. In the morning we found her, in the tent, she was…she must have died in her sleep."

"Oh man, I'm sorry. Were you two close?"

Yoshino shook her head. "Not really – I'd gone on a couple of missions with her before, but no, not really, it's just that it's so, sudden, you know?"

Shikaku nodded "So, they pulled you out?"

"Yes, they sent a new team when…"

He just nodded again. She didn't need to finish that sentence, he knew she meant they'd sent a new team when they'd come to get the body. Typical if they weren't in the middle of a war and could spare the shinobi. They would review all they could with the remaining team members. But, shit, what a way to go, not even in a battle or anything, just …ill.

"So, are you finished with the debriefing? Do you want to get coffee or something? Go somewhere and talk?"

She smiled up at him. "Yeah, that would be nice."

It was 1:30 in the morning and he was going to have to be back at it at 7am with Tsunade. But for now it didn't matter. Idly he thought that maybe he could get through tomorrow with soldier pills, but then hastily dismissed that idea in light of his earlier discussion with Tsunade and Jiraiya. So, maybe he'd go through a couple of pots of coffee tomorrow, drink up all of Tsunade's tea. Yoshino was back and even if it was the middle of the night, he was going to get to spend some time with her.

They walked over to an all-night cafe and slipped into a booth there. Yoshino asked him how his last few days had been and he filled her in on what little he could about the job, what he was allowed to tell. The awkwardness of it began to sink in to him – it hadn't really mattered so much with her and Chouza and Inoichi all out of town the last few days, but how did you go about this business of being on a classified mission and not being able to talk about it with your friends, your teammates, your …girlfriend?

Well, that was an interesting word – how had it slipped in there?

But back to his predicament – he _had_ been on classified/clandestine missions before – plenty of them – but always _with_ Chouza and Inoichi. And they were always away from Konoha. It was …_weird _…to be working on something right here and not be able to tell anybody about it.

"And you're working on this …project…with Tsunade?" she asked, her eyes flicking over as if she was looking at something just past his shoulder then they flicked back up to meet his. "Anybody else?"

He had one elbow on the table, his head propped up on that wrist. Poor kid, he thought, she looked as sleepy as he felt. "Yeah, with Tsunade" he mumbled, yawning and trying to keep awake. "Nobody else."

"Well, look, Shikaku, I know you're tired. Thank you for the coffee, I really should be getting on home now." She started to get up from the booth.

What the hell? What had happened here? Why was she leaving so abruptly? And her eyes had done that same funny thing as Tsunade's earlier today with Jiraiya – all soft to steel in nothing flat.

Tsunade. Shit – had he actually just said 'Tsunade and nobody else' to her? And why did she keep looking at his shoulder…

"Son-of-a-bitch!' he started jerking back in the booth as if he'd been stung.

"I do beg your pardon!" Yoshino snapped in a voice that he was sure must be a variant of some Water Style Ice Jutsu and if it wasn't it sure as hell ought to be.

"It's _Inoichi's_ shirt!" he yelled brushing furiously at the blond hair still at his shoulder. "It's like living with a damned golden retriever puppy, shedding and hair and shit all over the house!" Fuck this shirt business. From now on he was just going to wear one of those damned fishnet undershirts and his jounin vest – if you spill something on that freakin' fishnet then no stains. No stains, no fucking laundry.

He threw up his hands in exasperation, then let them come to rest, open and facing up on the table. He dared to look up at her eyes, he seemed safe for now, they were twinkling almost with mirth, almost as if she were going to laugh. "Look, you're right, it's late, I'll walk you home."

"I can take care of myself," she said softly.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I know that. Believe me. I _know_ that. But what I'm saying is…I'd _like_ to walk you home Yoshino Sakamoto."

"I'd like that, Shikaku Nara," she answered. Then hand in hand they left the cafe.

Halfway to her house he paused and pulled her to him, bending down to meet her lips as she turned her face up to him. "I missed you," he whispered to her.

"I missed you, too," she mumbled back, feeling him wrap his arms around her and holding her close. She melted against him and all the tension and worries of the last few days evaporated into the night air.


	10. Jiraiya Tells The Rest Of The Story

**Chapter 10: Jiraiya Tells The Rest Of The Story**

Shikaku surveyed the apartment – although certainly not clean by any stretch of the imagination, it was at least a helluva lot better than it had been the last few days. At least you could walk through the place without tripping now – he'd spent the last couple of hours trying to stuff shit back into its appropriate shelf or drawer.

He'd actually even done laundry this afternoon – rounding up everything of Inoichi's and throwing it in a pile on the guy's bed and doing the same for Chouza's crap. Then he'd stuffed all his own clothes into a duffle bag and hauled them downstairs to the laundry room in the apartment building's basement.

He had to give Tsunade credit – once things were up and running she kept to a much more manageable schedule. Today they'd collected some gas chromatograph information and set up some extractions to run over night. They'd actually gotten out of there at 4pm today – unbelievable. He'd swung by the mission room and checked – Chouza and Inoichi were inbound as of today. Yoshino was on a day mission – she wouldn't be back until later in the evening.

Well, he hadn't made plans with her until Saturday because he hadn't known what his schedule would be like. So that left him the whole evening to hang out with his two teammates and catch up once they got home. Which wasn't a bad thing. Not at all. Especially if they were able to bring a little something back.

He frowned. He wasn't sure what the status of things were now. Chouza and Inoichi had certainly had their hands slapped last go around. Maybe they wouldn't try to buy this trip. He frowned again – if their seller was even still doing business.

The door to the apartment opened and true to his nature Inoichi bounded in yelling "Hand check!" and wrestled him to the floor. Freakin' golden retriever puppy. A slightly (only slightly) more subdued Chouza was right behind him, heading for the fridge and looking for a beer.

Inoichi seemed disappointed that Shikaku didn't have his "_little_ girl friend" up here with him, as he referred to her, emphasizing the words in a way that implied something that was not the case. Shikaku just rolled his eyes. He also scowled when he saw where the two had dropped their bags and made a mental note to tell them to pick it up later and put their shit in their own rooms.

The three friends messed around in the kitchen and finally pulled together a meal, grilling outside since the weather was warm.

After dinner, as the twilight lengthened they sat around inside, shooting the breeze and catching up on the last week's events. Shikaku gathered that since neither of them had lit up yet, they hadn't resupplied on their latest mission. But the beer was cold and the evening was warm and the three of them were planning what to do for the rest of the night other than just sitting around shooting the breeze.

The question of what to do with the rest of their evening was answered when they heard a *poof* and a hearty greeting, "Good evening boys, how's it going?"

"The hell-?" Inoichi jumped out of his seat, the sound had come from just behind him. Shikaku just stared open-mouthed unable to believe what he was seeing.

Jiraiya-sama and Orochimaru-sama stood in his living room.

"Jiraiya, you could just use a door like a normal person," Orochimaru said in a bored tone.

"Fuck me…," Shikaku spluttered.

"Hadn't planned on it, kid," Jiraiya quipped, "Say, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Shikaku stood speechless. Finally he found his voice and motioned weakly around the room, "Um, guys, this is Jiraiya-sama and Orochimaru-sama. Um, sirs, these are my roommates, Chouza Akamichi and Inoichi Yamanaka." There, was that proper enough because his head was spinning and he sure as hell couldn't remember what protocol called for in this situation.

He thought about muttering some inane pleasantries like 'please have a seat' or 'can I get you something to drink' but that problem was solved when Jiraiya plopped down into a chair, drew out his pipe and said, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em boys."

The quietness that descended over the room was profound. Even if they did have any weed on them, they sure as hell weren't going to light up with the sannin present.

"My, my, Jiraiya, it appears you were right again. ANBU _is_ raining on everyone's parade. I wonder why?" The voice was soft but it sent chills down Shikaku's spine. He shuddered.

Jiraiya packed his pipe away and drew out something else. "Guess I'll have to chase the clouds away, huh, Orochimaru?" He opened the pouch he'd taken from his pocket and rolled a joint. After lighting it and taking a deep draw off it he held it out to Shikaku.

"Shit…," Shikaku muttered, "Would you mind telling me why you're here in my living room lighting up with me and my friends?"

"It's a strategy session," Jiraiya responded, laughing, "and I need you in a _strategic _state of mind. Besides, great ice-breaker don't you think?"

"Honestly…," Orochimaru snapped, snatching the joint out of Jiraiya's hand as Shikaku hesitated. "you'd think it was going to bite you."

Jiraiya looked up at his teammate in glee. "Orochimaru – I didn't know you were smoking tonight."

"Only because I'll need to be as _strategic_ as they are in order to get through your explanation again," he muttered, drawing deeply then passing the joint to Shikaku.

Warily accepting it, closing his eyes and taking his first hit off of it, Shikaku was overcome with the sense of surrealism. He must be dreaming. That was it, sleep deprivation over the last few days. He exhaled, opened his eyes and looked around the room, handing the joint to Inoichi. No. They were all still there. Two of the sannin. In his living room. Getting high. With him.

Jiraiya waited until the joint had been passed back to him. "So, tell us what you're working on Shikaku."

Shikaku shifted uneasily on the couch. "You, um, you know I can't do that."

"Good boy," Jiraiya smiled, "So, how about if _I_ tell them, and you can fill in any gaps if I leave anything out?"

Shikaku hesitated, technically the project hadn't gone black until the day the door with the funky double-keyed lock was activated. And technically nobody had told him that it was classified before that day. So technically if Jiraiya already knew all that stuff the night he and Orochimaru had dropped the samples off then what they knew wasn't black and could be told, right?

Shikaku nodded and Jiraiya promptly filled in the background for Chouza and Inoichi. Shikaku didn't have a problem with the lab description or anything that first night. But when he started to go into the pill's effects which Shikaku had learned the second day, he shifted uncomfortably and started to say something. This seemed to be hovering dangerously close to the "classified" part.

"Think I shouldn't go any further, Shikaku?" Jiraiya asked softly.

Shikaku cleared his throat. "Well, um, I think you are getting into what _I_ was told was the classified portion of the project."

Jiriaya's eyes twinkled. "Well, nobody told _me _it was classified, and since I've gotten my information _independently_, I'll just keep going, okay?" And even though the inflection made it _sound _like a question, Shikaku knew that it was an order.

And Jiraiya filled Chouza and Inoichi in on the effects and side effects of the drug. Chouza had about the same level of concern that Shikaku recalled feeling when he first heard about it. But Inoichi sat very still, the word still on his lips, _Tsukyomi._

"What is it, Inoichi?" Shikaku remembered that that was the thing he was going to ask Inoichi when he got back. He waited for his friend's reply.

"It's a … an alternate dimension, generated, you can … twist space and time, to the wielder's wishes. But that's only something Sharingan users can do."

Jiraiya just smiled. "Until now, that was true. But with this handy little pill, a high-level genjutsu user, a true adept, would be able to invoke Tsukyomi, too. There's just one tiny little hitch…"

Shikaku spoke up quickly, interrupting Jiraiya, not liking the look on Inoichi's face, "Addiction. Complete dependence. True. Phsyiological. You have to keep taking it or you die."

"But who would do such a thing? Why create it?" Chouza asked.

"Why indeed? Ask Inoichi. Would there be a market for it?" Jiraiya replied.

Inoichi shook his head, "Fuck, yeah, if it works as advertised."

Shikaku sat on the couch, something still not making sense no matter how 'strategic' he was at the moment. So what? So why the fuck was Jiraiya here, telling Chouza and Inoichi exactly the same thing Tsunade had told him in the lab yesterday?

Maybe it was the grass or maybe he was just a little bit pissed off to be put in this absurd situation, but regardless, he said so. Out loud.

"So, fuckit, man, you're just, you're just saying the exact same shit Tsunade said yesterday. Just to my roommates okay, no big, but fuck, what's the big deal?"

Orochimaru, now sitting beside Jiraiya, cocked an eyebrow and gave him a faint smile. He turned to look at his own teammate. "I think he wants to know what you're going to add to Tsunade's version of events, Jiraiya. I think he's _demanding_ it."

"This drug didn't just show up, overnight, okay?" The boys nodded in unison, eyes wide. "It's been designed. Targeted to work a certain way. Targeted to provide a specific benefit at an outrageous cost. It took a lot of effort and a lot of resources and a lot of money to go into producing something like this."

Shikaku thought of Tsunade's lab and nodded vigorously in agreement, no doubt about that.

"So, who has those types of resources?"

Shikaku's head wasn't working all that well, being a tad bit "strategic" by now, plus a little bit high. He could come up with the names of a couple of industrial candidates, maybe one of the larger drug cartels. He threw those names out.

Jiraiya smiled, good try he told him, but still, think outside the box.

Shikaku racked his brain – it must be right in front of him, Jiraiya was smirking at him like he should have come up with it by now. He reached to take the joint from Inoichi again and took another hit. He almost laughed, shit, if the other guesses were wrong, then the only other thing he could think of with enough resources able to pull off something like this would be a government. Laughingly he said so as he passed the cigarette back to Chouza.

"Bingo." Jiraiya said simply.

Shikaku laughed. Seriously – it was absurd. He said so.

"Absurd, really?" Jiraiya asked. "Who else has the resources?"

"But…why?"

"You can be sure that when defense becomes an industry, the underlying motive becomes profit. I can tell you right now, in every council hall of the five great nations, wherever there's a hidden village their greatest concern is 'Oh my God, peace might break out.'"

Shikaku started to protest but Jiraiya held up his hand to silence them. "Governments have the resources to pull it off. They have intelligence gathering organizations, like ANBU," he nodded his chin toward Chouza and Inoichi, "to learn the trafficking network between villages and nations, and they have enforcement, the police force to handle information and distribution internally to a nation, a village."

"Control something like this and you have an enormous amount of power. You can introduce it to an area and then withdraw it, leaving victims to their own painful death by withdrawal or else blackmail them for a regular supply. You can sow fear between opposing nations that one side's genjutsu users have powered up and they need to get in the game to compete. Produce and control something like this and you have sway over our entire way of life."

"But Tsunade…" Shikaku started.

"Tsunade doesn't want to face the facts that it_ is_ very likely shinobi behind this. Shinobi stand to benefit the most from maintaining the status quo. This drug and others like it make that possible. Tsunade doesn't want to admit that …"

"Tsunade doesn't want to admit that a fish rots from the head down!" Orochimaru snapped. "And I wonder if you do?"

Jiraiya looked away. Orochimaru was glaring at his friend's back, almost daring him, begging him to turn around and face him. Shikaku was quite sure that this ranked right up there with the look Jiraiya gave Tsunade the other day as one of the saddest things he'd ever seen.

"So what do you need me, us, to do?" Shikaku asked.

It took Jiraiya a moment to respond. "Just do what you normally do. Go to work at the lab. Go on missions. Bring back 'souvenirs'. Just let _me_ know if there's anything you see unusual from your routine. That's all I ask. For now."


	11. Caught Up In You

**Chapter 11: Caught Up In You**

Shikaku rolled out of bed, thankfully the sun was up, not o-dark-thirty like every other morning this week. Tsunade, bless her, had said they should take a day off. He sat on the edge of his bed, trying to clear his head.

Had last night been some type of weird dream? He shook his head, cobwebs finally clearing. No, it had been real enough. But what had it really been about? Was Jiraiya seriously implying that the source of all this was one of the Hidden Villages? More than one? Was he actually even suggesting that…

Bullshit. It was all bullshit. Had to be. They were just stoned and talking big.

He thought back over the previous night's conversation and kept coming back to the image of Inoichi's face, wide-eyed as Jiraiya carried on. Something about that image angered him, made him mad that Inoichi might even consider doing something that stupid. Stupid puppy.

"Inoichi!" he barked as he slammed open his friend's bedroom door. "Get your lazy ass out of bed!"

"Shit, man, lemme sleep," Inoichi mumbled pulling a pillow over his head.

"Now, get your lazy bones moving," Shikaku laughed, pulling the sheets off his friend, "You two have been gone a whole week and I've been cooped up in a lab and we need to train. C'mon, let's go down to the training field and spar, taijutsu only."

Inoichi grumbled, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. "What is _with_ you, man?"

Chouza appeared at the door, "What's going on?"

"Shikaku has lost his mind," Inoichi yawned and jerked his thumb toward his friend. "It's Saturday morning and he wants to go goof around, sparring and shit."

"C'mon, you guys. I have been inside for an entire week…," Shikaku started.

"With Tsunade." Chouza added helpfully. Inoichi smirked, wiping the last of the sleep from his eyes.

"Unpacking and running cables and piddly shit. Stuck inside for a whole week…," Shikaku ignored the interruption.

"With Tsunade's tits." Inoichi chimed in.

"And I just need to beat the crap out of something, preferably your sorry hide Inoichi," Shikaku snapped, but by this time he was smiling, too.

Inoichi draped one arm over his black-haired friend's shoulders. "Too much pent up energy, face it, Shikaku, bro, you need to get laid."

"Agreed," Chouza said, "However, I suppose you'll have to settle for getting your butt kicked, Shikaku. C'mon, let's get breakfast on the way."

After breakfast the three friends made their way to their favorite training grounds. "Taijutsu only," Shikaku said, facing Inoichi first.

Taijutsu only with Chouza was pretty much a lost cause – Chouza could whip him in fairly short order. But with Inoichi it was usually a more involved match – they were more evenly matched despite the blonde's few centimeters on him. He could work up a good sweat with Inoichi and still stand a reasonable chance of beating him. And he did want to beat him. Something about that look in his eyes bothered Shikaku no end, Yamanaka should_ know_ better than to even think about wanting any shit like that.

They started with some basic kicks and blocks, Shikaku grinning because even though he'd said taijutsu only and he would never cheat on Inoichi, the taller boy just couldn't get it through his head sometimes that Shikaku couldn't turn his own shadow "off." It threw him off, adjusting for a greater reach than what Shikaku really had. And the earlier in the morning or the later in the evenings they worked out together, the greater the effect.

The two of them were really getting into a good sweat by now, Shikaku able to land a couple of good solid punchs because Inoichi was blocking a fraction of an inch off, thrown off by his shadow.

Inoichi managed to get in a good kick on Shikaku that caused him to stagger back. "Hah! pencil-dick!" he shouted.

Shikaku caught his balance and kicked back feeling the resounding thud as he came into contact with Inoichi's thigh. "Bishi-boy," he chided. He came in close for another punch which Inoichi couldn't block.

The last failed block caused Yamanak to lose his balance and fall on his ass. "Cheater," he laughed looking up at Shikaku.

Shikaku smiled, "Liar, I never once used ninjutsu." He held his hand out, leaning forward to help his friend up.

And promptly lost his own balance as he fell face forward into the image of Tsunade's bosom generated by Inoichi's genjutsu. He only managed to catch himself from falling on top of Inoichi by using his shadow to brace against the ground.

"Fucker! You're a one-trick pony, Inoichi. Can't you come up with anything other than Tsunade's tits?"

Inoichi was on his back, laughing up at him, "Whazzat? Shikaku? Couldn't hear you."

Shikaku was bent forward, hands on his thighs, catching his breath. It had been a good workout overall. "Tsunade's tits, it's gettin' a little old don't you think? Can't you come up with something else." In the background he saw Chouza waving to him, he lifted one hand in reply.

Inoichi was curling up in laughter. "I still couldn't hear you!"

Shikaku had caught his breath enough to yell "TSUNADE'S TITS! Getting a little old, don't you think?"

Inoichi was apoplectic, tears of laughter streaming from his eyes. Chouza was waving frantically to him.

Shit.

Shikaku took a deep breath, hands still on his thighs. "Motherf-, she's right behind me, isn't she?"

Inoichi just nodded weakly.

Shikaku straightened slowly. He looked carefully over his shoulder. Shit.

The three legendary sannin stood on the embankment leading down to their training grounds. Jiraiya was leaning his forehead against Orochimaru's shoulder, laughing hysterically. Tsunade stood with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot furiously. Even Orochimaru was smiling at him.

"Shikaku, could I have a word with you for a minute, please?" She called down to him.

"Uh…yeah…sure," he dusted his hands against his pants leg and groaned. Before he started to walk up the embankment he hissed down at his friend, "Payback's a bitch, Yamanaka."

Reluctantly, he ascended the small hill. "Yes, Tsunade, what is it?"

"I just needed to let you know that I'm going to be gone for a bit – definitely tomorrow, maybe Monday, too." She scowled over one shoulder looking back at the cackling Jiraiya and the smirking Orochimaru. "I have some information I need to follow up on with these two," she said, jerking one thumb back and pointing at her teammates. "I'll send for you when we get back."

"Yeah, um, sure, okay," he answered, not really able to think of anything else to say. With her gone, there was nothing he could do in the lab by himself. "Is there anything you want me to work on outside the lab?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Nothing right now, if something comes up I'll get a message to you."

He agreed and they bid each other goodbye. Before he left, Jiraiya called back, "Remember, Shikaku, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut." Then laughingly he added, "For your own good."

Tsunade, between her two friends, whacked the back of Jiraiya's head with one hand. Then just for good measure she whacked the back of Orochimaru's, too. As they walked off into the distance Shikaku heard a faint round of name calling from all three sannin that sounded remarkably like him with his own teammates.

Shikaku, having caught his breath and collected his thoughts, launched himself back down the hill, determined to show Inoichi that payback was, indeed, a bitch.

Later that afternoon, after he'd showered and changed, Shikaku left his friends back at the apartment to pick up some lunch and run some errands, the most important of which was to buy Yoshino a birthday present.

He smiled to himself, yes, they actually had "a date" tonight. She'd teased him, asking if he was sure it was actually a date this time, since he'd made such a fuss about it in front if Inoichi and Chouza last time. And he'd teased her right back by shutting her up with a kiss, like the first time, which she didn't seem to mind at all.

So, running a hand back through his hair again, he looked at the line of shops in one of the main shopping centers in Konoha. Where to start?

Clothes? Well, he had no idea where to begin there, not sizes or styles, nada. Books? Hah, Inoichi had a better chance picking out something she'd like. He had a sneaking suspicion that he could drop the two of them off in a bookstore together for hours and they'd spend the time poring over Gojiro merchandise like two little kids in a toy store. Jewelry? Maybe?

He stopped in front of a jewelry store, an assortment of items displayed in the glass front cases. He went in the store, completely unsure of himself, never having purchased jewelry before other than his own earring, and never for a girl, certainly not a girlfriend (there was that word again) but the clerk was more than happy to assist. A short while later he emerged with a long slender velvet box feeling very satisfied with himself and hoping that Yoshino would like the bejeweled hairpins he had chosen.

They were 6″ long of black bone with a lacquer finish that sparkled in the light. Each was topped with a blue lampwork bead and an ornate silver filigree bead cap with crystal separating the beaded top from the bone of the hairsticks themselves. Silver plated blue heishi beads dangled from the top of each one.

He really hoped she'd like them because he had no idea what else to get her. When the clerk had asked him to describe the girl he was shopping for, all he kept coming back to was her sleek, long black hair. Shikaku was a little bit nervous because he had no idea how these things worked, how could two plain sticks hold up a curtain of hair like hers anyway? But the clerk had reassurred him that they _would_ work and Shikaku had completed his purchase and left.

Back at her house, Yoshino waffled for about 1 minute in indecision over what to wear. She took out her new outfit, the cloud dragon tunic, she'd bought to wear thinking of Shikaku and she was damned if she was going to think one more second's thought about grabby-boy Tsuyoshi trying to paw her in it. She slipped it on, loving the feel of the silk as it slid cool against her skin.

She combed her hair and pinned it back neatly with two barrettes and surveyed her look in there mirror. Satisified, she began to search around for her shoes. With one in her hand she searched for the other one under her bed, stretching to reach it as she heard the doorbell ring. Startled she jumped up and slipped the shoes on, starting towards the doors.

Earrings! She didn't have earrings yet! She dashed to her jewelry box, looking for simple silver studs to match her outfit. She could hear muffled conversation below as her mom and dad talked to Shikaku. She smirked, well, she'd told them her date was a jounin, she just hadn't told them he was older than her, than any other boy she'd ever brought home. She wondered what they'd think of his beard.

Rushing to her bedroom door she had to _make_ herself not go running down the stairs. Shikaku looked up and she smiled to see the way he was looking at her. She'd take that as approval of her outfit. After an awkward round of introductions, the two of them left for dinner.

The restaurant was quiet, dark and intimate. Little candles flickered on the tables, casting a golden glow around the diners. Yoshino loved the place, loved talking with Shikaku, loved how he had one elbow on the table, his chin in that hand leaning forward and talking to her, listening to her, loved everything about the night with him.

Shikaku was totally captivated as well, watching her eyes sparkle in the candlelight, hearing her laugh, seeing how the light caught on her hair and made it shine…

Her hair!

He'd forgotten to give her her present. Reaching into a pocket on his vest he drew out the velvet box and slid it toward her. "Here," he said, "Happy Birthday."

Yoshino beamed. "Thank you!" then opening the box she gasped in surprise. "Oh, Shikaku, they're beautiful, thank you!" She held them up in the light, noting how the crystal caught and scattered the glow. "I'll… if you'll excuse me…I'll… I'll just go put them in, okay?"

He smiled and just nodded and watched her walk away. He was glad she liked them.

A few moments later she returned but the transformation was remarkable, something he had completely not expected. The little silver barrettes at the sides were gone, her hair no longer swaying to her waist. Instead it was swept up elegantly, knotted and held in place by the jeweled hairsticks, silver beads catching the light as she walked. A few stray tendrils twined down on either side of her face, framing it artfully.

Shikaku was wondering if simply _being_ a kunoichi was its own brand of genjutsu. Which one was his date – the girl he'd brought in here or this elegant young woman? Or both? How'd she _do_ that?

"So, um, how do they look?" she asked shyly, casting her gaze down, waiting for his answer.

The effect was striking. Shikaku thought he would _do _anything, _say_ anything to have her simply look back up at him now. "You look beautiful," he said hoarsely, reaching across the table to cover her hand with his own. He wanted to leave _now_, to take her with him _now_, to simply _take_ her…

Where?

Back to his apartment with his party boy roommates? Sure, he'd brought girls back to the apartment before. Inoichi may have been more prolific but he and Chouza weren't completely shut out in the girl department. Of course those girls tended to be more of the party girl variety.

Back to her house with her mom and dad?

WTF? What did you do with a young kunoichi?

It didn't matter – he just wanted to leave now, to be alone with her now, anywhere, just a walk, just _anywhere _to be where he could hold her. Arm in arm they left the restaurant, strolling in the moonlight. They neared the walls of the village, casting flickering shadows as they passed streetlights. He stopped and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply.

Yoshino circled her arms behind his neck, pulling herself up against him. Sliding his hands down over the cool silk, he slipped them up under her tunic, sliding up until he reached the warmth of her skin at her waist. Further still, one hand covered her breast, thumb circling the center. She moaned into his kiss, turning her head slightly and he kissed roughly, hungrily down her neck across her shoulder.

Daring to, she skimmed her own hands down his body, coming to rest at his waist, fingers tickling along the waistband of his pants. He held her by her hips then, pulling her against him. She could feel his hardness pressed against her, it both frightened and emboldened her to know what she could do, what she _was_ doing to him.

"Yoshino," he rumbled against her ear, "Yoshino, I…"

"Yoshino Sakamoto?" a masculine voice that he thought he faintly recognized jolted Shikaku. He and Yoshino disentangled themselves from each other to stare at the two ANBU who had appeared.

"Could you come with us, please? We have some questions for you."

Yoshino looked at Shikaku, eyes wide having no idea what was going on. "I'll um, I'll see you later, okay?" she whispered to Shikaku.

"Yeah. Sure. I'll see you tomorrow," he mumbled watching her as she walked off into the night with the two ANBU.

Fucking hell?


	12. Blue Morning, Blue Day

**Chapter 12: Blue Morning, Blue Day**

Exhausted, Yoshino looked around the room at the four masked faces. "I'm telling you, that's all I know. I was with her the whole afternoon, she seemed fine. We went out to dinner and when we returned I took over the post that night. When I returned in the morning she was… Look!" she snapped, "we've been over this a dozen times already – we spent the entire day together. We ate at the same restaurant, I've given you the name. She seemed fine all day long – no symptoms of fever, nothing until we got back. What more do you want from me?"

"Sakamoto, this is an official investigation, I would have expected you to want to get to the bottom of your mission team leader's death." snapped back the voice of the jackal-masked ANUB, the one who had asked for her when she'd been picked up.

Sighing, Yoshino responded, "Of course, I'm just tired. Why'd you have to do this at midnight? And how many times are we going to go over the same things?"

"I think we are done with the questioning." She thought the ANBU might actually be smiling behind his mask but it was tired and she honestly did not care. "We would like to put you in a light hypnotic state to see if there's anything your conscious mind may have overlooked."

Yoshino yawned, "Why didn't you just do that in the first place," she grumbled.

A second ANBU stepped forward and simply said, "I'm going to put you in a light trance…" and promptly did so. Yoshino felt light, warm, relaxed. She could hear her own voice sounding faint and far away as she answered their questions. It seemed to only take a few minutes and then she was shaking her head, almost as if waking up from a brief nap.

The first ANBU put his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Sakamoto. I know this must have been difficult for you. Are you going to the memorial service this afternoon?"

Yoshino nodded slightly, she hadn't forgotten, she just hadn't wanted to think about it.

After the door of the room had closed behind her the first ANBU, the one with the jackal-masked crossed his arms over his chest and turned to face his partner. "So, did she see anything?"

The second, wearing a black and white cat-faced mask shook his head, "No, she didn't see anything that would concern us. Didn't noticed any of the shipment back at the camp." He laughed under his mask, "Although…she does think your nephew is a jerk."

It was hard to tell it but the first one rolled his eyes under his mask. "She isn't the first girl to think that. Just as long as he doesn't do anything to cause us any problems…"

"Right," responded the second, "just as long…"

Sleep did not come easy to her that night, much to her surprise. Walking home in the dark after midnight her mind had been busy turning over the events back in Wave, wondering if there was anything she might have missed. What sleep she did manage to get was fitful, knowing that when she got up in the morning, she was going to have to go to Asako's memorial service.

Asako! Anko! She got up out of bed and rummaged through the bag that was still lying in her closet that she had brought back from Wave. There in the bottom of the bag was the little pink coin purse Asako had bought for Anko. Yoshino cried, knowing she would have to be the one to give it to the little girl rather than her own mother.

Morning came and still exhausted, Yoshino rose and put on her black dress. It was a fact of shinobi life that black clothing was a standard part of the wardrobe, not your everyday wear, but often enough, too often as a matter of fact.

She was ready early, the service wasn't for a couple more hours yet. Wondering what to do with herself, she found that she had wandered over near Shikaku's apartment. She knocked at the door and after a moment he answered it, wearing pajama pants and no shirt.

"Yoshino! Come in," he said opening the door wide to welcome her. He'd been worried and pissed off too about the ANBU business last night, and meaning to go by her house and check on her today to see how it went. Then he noticed her dark outfit.

"Oh, is Miterashi's memorial today," he asked feeling somewhat at a loss. Unless it was a high ranking person, someone known throughout the village, memorial services tended to be smaller family affairs. Of course, Yoshino had said she wasn't all that close to Asako, but still , having been on her last misson with the woman just before…Well, it only made sense that she'd go.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…wake you… ," she said taking in his pajamas, oddly amused by the fact that it was getting close to noon and he was still wearing them.

"What, oh, no, I was awake," he mumbled wiping a hand over his face. "Come on in, do you want some coffee?"

She sat at the small table as he brought them two cups of coffee. "Cream? Or sugar?" he asked.

"No, just black is fine," she replied hesitantly taking a sip but finding it to be not all that bad.

Shikaku was relieved because he wasn't sure if there was any cream and if there was if it was spoiled or not. He was also rather unsure of the location of sugar in the apartment. He thought they might have some but had no idea where it was.

They talked for a bit and then Yoshino asked, "Do you…are you busy…today?" She really hoped he wasn't busy and that maybe he would come with her this afternoon because this was honestly something she did not want to go to by herself. "Do you think you could go with me?"

"Sure," he replied softly. "Sure, I can go. Let me go get changed." He kissed the top of her head before he left the table.

A short while later he emerged freshly showered and wearing his own black tunic and hakama. To his surprise, Chouza and Inoichi were both up, eating rolled omelets and rice.

"She's great, Shikaku, can we keep her?" Chouza smiled and mumbled through a mouthful of rice and egg.

Shikaku scowled wanting to pipe back that no they could not keep her when Yoshino spoke up, "Don't talk with your mouthful, Chouza."

"You didn't have to do that," Shikaku motioned at the table.

Shrugging Yoshino answered, "They were hungry and I needed something to do. Do you want something to eat?"

"Ummm, … yeah," he answered sheepishly. She smiled and prepared another omelet.

The service that afternoon was brief, but mournful. At the end of the ceremony, Yoshino and Shikaku spoke to Asako's husband. "I, um, I have a … I was with Asako…that is…" Yoshino was stumbling over her words as she spoke to the man. Taking a deep breath she managed to complete her sentence. "I was with Asako in Wave. We went shopping and she had a present for Anko – I had it in my bags when I came back." She handed the small package over to him.

"Why don't you give it to her?" he said, motioning down to the little four year old girl who was doing her best to stand still beside him. "I'm sure she'd like to know her mother's friend brought to her."

Yoshino knelt down, Shikaku's fingertips at her shoulders. "Hello, Anko," she whispered.

"Are you a friend of my mother's?" the little girl asked and Yoshino nodded.

"Are you a kunoichi like her?" Again, Yoshino nodded trying not to cry in front of her.

Anko pointed to herself with her own thumb, "I'm gonna be a kunoichi just like Omaasan, too." she said proudly.

"Yes, Anko-chan, yes you are," Yoshino agreed. "Here, your mother bought you a present and I'm just delivering it for her," she floundered not knowing what else to say.

Anko opened the small package and held out the pink purse proudly. "Otousan! Look!" she said proudly holding it up and waving it.

"Yes, Anko-chan, I see. It's very nice. Now we have to let them go on. We have other guests to greet." He turned his attention to Yoshino and Shikaku. "She…doesn't fully understand. I think she just thinks her mother is on a mission."

The two younger shinobi nodded and offered their condolences and left. Walking along with her hand in hand, an idea came to Shikaku of just the right place to take her. "Come on," he said, pulling her by the wrist.

Stopping back by his apartment to change he rummaged around for something for her also. Laughing and glad that he'd managed to do laundry a couple of days ago, he came up with a t-shirt that had shrunk when he'd washed it in the hot water and a pair of pants that sort of fit as long as she looped a belt around her waist a couple of times to hold them up and turned the cuffs up about six inches.

Looking at him askance, hardly daring to believe she was going outside with him dressed like this, Yoshino said, "You have got to be kidding me. I am not going out in public dressed this way."

"You won't be in public and besides, I don't want you to get your dress dirty. Come on." And taking her by her wrist again, they flew through the streets and bounded off into the direction of his clan's lands.

He finally paused the two of them at the edge of a wooded area where it met a meadow. Flopping down on his back at the beginning of the grassy area he motioned for him to join her.

"What?" she asked, curious.

"Just sit. Lie back. Look at clouds, trees, whatever."

"I can't just sit."

"Yes you can."

"No, really, I _cannot _just sit still." She laughed. "I just can't. I have to be _doing_ something."

"Yes, you_ can_," he laughed back at her, pulling her down beside him, "for me."

Yoshino sighed, and lay on her back, her head resting on his chest looking up at the clouds with him. She dozed off feeling his fingers ruffling in her hair, light breeze playing across the two of them in the late afternoon sunshine.

Sometime later she awoke to realize that the sun had almost set, shadows lengthened and it was near dusk. She realized that Shikaku must have been awake earlier and shifted to a sitting position with her head in his lap. She started to sit up but he put one hand on her shoulder holding her firmly down and a second finger to his lips instructing her to keep quiet.

Slowly and quietly she sat up and turned to face the same direction as he was, feeling his arm slip warm around her waist, pulling her to him. A soft whisper of a gasp escaped her lips as she saw the deer slipping from the shadows one by one to gaze in the sweet grass of the meadow. Shikaku kissed her on the cheek and murmured warmly in her ear, "See? There are some things you can only _do_ if you're still."


	13. Off Like A Prom Dress

**Chapter 13: Off Like A Prom Dress**

Shikaku stopped by the mission assignment room Monday morning, even though he knew he was already staffed to Tsunade for the foreseeable future**. **He was primarily interested in what Yoshino would be working on, but also to know where Chouza and Inoichi were heading out to, also.

The room was crowded, full of jostling shinobi. Mondays were always the worst. Lots of people would be heading out for multi-day missions so the crowd was usually thinner the rest of the week. He saw Yoshino but once again they were on opposite sides of the room. Chouza and Inoichi were behind him and their names were some of the first called. They were going out to a remote village near the border to help clear out a group of bandits who were harrassing villagers in the area. They'd been gone a few days, it looked like.

More names were called and more shinobi departed. He looked up at the clock, wondering how much time he could get away with and just how angry Tsunade would be if he kept her waiting. But as the room cleared it was easier for him to make his way over to Yoshino and he plunked down into the chair beside her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she smiled back at him, and added, "Well, I see you _can_ get up and get dressed before you noon if you need to."

He gave her a pretend scowl and whispered "Troublesome woman, I knew when I met you, you were nothing but trouble." He twirled two fingers in her hair but let it slip quickly as she was called to go with the team assigned for the now-routine transport of craftsment back and forth between Wave. This group was larger than the original three-man team – there were now four chuunin counting Yoshino and a couple of older jounin that he vaguely recognized both of whom were wearing jackets with the Uchiha crest.

Since he already knew his own assignment, and thinking Tsunade would be ticked off enough already and that five minutes more wouldn't make much difference, he got up and followed Yoshino out. The older of the two jounin was explaining the details of the mission to the group and Shikaku's ears perked up. He thought he recognized the voice. Standing behind the newly assembled team, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed, he listened more carefully and realized that he knew for a certainty who the voice belonged to – the ANBU jerk that had picked up his friends and then later Yoshino. A prickly sensation of suspicion ran down his spine as he wondered just what the odds were against this being a coincidence.

"You, Nara, don't you have someplace to be?" the other jounin spoke up.

Shikaku just sighed and put his hands in his vest pockets and looked the guy in the eyes and answered, "No, no, not really. Lab can't open 'til I get there." He stared at the second Uchiha waiting to see who would blink first.

The older guy just motioned to the second one to leave it and then returned his attention to his team of chuunin.

"All right, standard escort duty – we'll be out for two weeks and back for two, shuttling these builders back and forth. Actually we don't expect too much trouble during the travel time. There are however some options for bidding on additional significant ocean front resorts and the chief negotiator for our team of contractors has told me that the competition is a little less than savory. So there will be additional bodyguard duties during this trip as well. You'll be involved in those, meetings, dinner receptions, whatever _our_ clients plan to attend, _we _need to plan to attend to. So, stop by the quartermaster's and get yourselves outfitted appropriately. I don't want you all showing up at a cocktail party in fishnet unless it's the kunoichi in fishnet stockings, got that? Oh, and get a kunoichi-kit, too. We'll meet our clients at 2p.m. Be ready to leave then."

There was a general round of chuckles at his comment as the group broke up. Yoshino came over to him, "Shikaku," she whispered, "why are you still here, won't you be in trouble with Tsunade?"

Shikaku leaned back against the wall as if he needed to hold it up, holding her lightly by her forearms. "Just wanted to see where you were off to. You recognize that guy?" he asked motioning to the leader of her newly assembled team.

"He's Mugato Uchiha. I haven't worked with him before though…" she hesitated, "although I do recognize the voice."

"Tch, well, me, too. Troublesome. Say, since you don't have to leave until two, do you want to get together for lunch?" he asked.

Yoshino smiled, "Sure."

After making plans for lunch, Shikaku rushed to the lab where fortunately, Tsunade didn't seem to mind that he was nearly half an hour late . She was engaged in an animated conversation with the other two sannin and hardly noticed him when he arrived.

"Tsunade, you can't deny what you saw…" Jiraiya began.

She quickly cut him off. "I KNOW what I saw. I just don't know… what it means." She huffed in exasperation, pushing her blonde hair back from her face. "Come on Shikaku, let's open the door." She turned her back on her old teammates and fumbled with her key in the lock.

"Tsunade," his voice was genuinely soft and tender and for once it didn't give Shikaku chills up his spine as Orochimaru spoke. "Tsunade…I know it's hard to hear what he has to say but…for what it's worth, I think Jiraiya is on to something."

Shikaku stood rooted to the spot hardly daring to move more than his eyes as he cast his glance around at all three of his elders. Tsunade was rigid, wound tight as a watch spring, clutching the door handle in a death grip that he was sure was going to shatter it. Jiraiya seemed broken… empty, while Orochimaru had a look of desperation that Shikaku found as eerie as he usually found the raven-haired man's voice.

"Get lost," she said trying to sound lighthearted but her voice only came out brittle. "I've got work to do. I'll see you two at lunch." Her key clicked in the lock and she motioned for Shikaku to insert his own.

Eyes wide and mouth set in a firm line, Shikaku helped her open the door and the two of them went inside. Work that morning was incredibly subdued. Not that Tsunade was the most talkative woman around (for which he was quite thankful), but normally she was at least pleasant. Today she was thin-lipped and grim.

They worked silently for some time, Shikaku burning with curiosity to know what that was all about between the three earlier. But there was another, even more curious thing he wanted an answer to. It had been tickling in the back of his mind since the assignments this morning and he'd meant to ask her as soon as he'd gotten here. But all the bad vibes from the Sannin this morning had pushed that to the back of his mind.

Now it seemed like it might be as good of time as any. It seemed fairly far removed from whatever had set those three on edge. He cleared his throat and spoke up. "Tsunade, can I, um, ask you a question?"

Not looking up from the microscope she was currently adjusting, she merely answered, "Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"What's a kunoichi kit?"

"Emergency contraception. Why?" She answered distractedly then paused and looked up at him, genuinely concerned. "Shikaku? Have you got some girl in trouble?"

"What? No, geez. No, I just…it just came up in conversation, that's all."

She studied him carefully. "Alright," she said slowly, "if you say so."

Shikaku was inwardly cursing himself. Clearly she didn't believe him and the more he said that wasn't the case the more she'd think it was. He looked at her, she was preparing to say more. Oh crap, here it comes – _the lecture._

Tsunade made a great pretense of adjusting her focus on her microsope so that she wouldn't have to look at Shikaku. "You know, Shikaku, any kunoichi can get them at the quartermaster's but if it's a village girl…that you know of…that you are acquainted with…," she cleared her throat. "She can see me and I'll get her a prescription."

Well, hell, there was nothing he could say to that. The more he protested the more she'd think that's why he was asking. He merely mumbled a "That's good to know."

Of course this did bring up the question of why Yoshino was assigned one, specifically told to get one by her team leader. What the fuck was up with that? That was something from like hundreds of years ago when kunoichi were used that way, wasn't it?

"Tsunade?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Why would they be assigned on some missions?" He really couldn't think of a way to ask other than to ask it directly.

Tsunade paused. "Well, a couple of reasons. In war zones where there are reports of mass rapes being used to demoralize a population, then even the kunoichi sent as part of a police force are subject to the same dangers as the population overall. In specific police cases, where you're assisting police, a kunoichi who fits a certain type, look, might be used to lure a criminal into a situation where he can be captured, but that might endanger her as well. And then there's the obvious and most common usage, protecting the young kunoichi from herself."

"Huh? I don't get it."

Tsunade laughed. It was the first time he had seen an actual smile on her face all day. "That's right, you never had a kunoichi on your team. It was always you, Yamanaka and Akamichi. How old are you now, Shikaku?"

"Nineteen, why?"

"Come back and ask me again in five or six years," she smiled and wouldn't say anymore on the subject.

Tch. Troublesome women. Acting like they know all the answers to all the mysteries of the cosmos.

Lunchtime came and he and Tsunade parted ways, locking the lab behind them. Sprinting to Yoshino's house, since that's where they had agreed to meet as he didn't know what time he'd be able to get away, he knocked on the door and was pleased to see her in just a moment.

She had two bento boxes ready for them and they were going to take them back to the spot where they had watched the deer the day before. Wrong time of day for deer but still a nice place for lunch.

"Wait, before we go I want to show you something," she said, smiling and going to the living room where her gear was out ready to pack up. "I have no idea how I'm going to pack this but still, see, isn't it beautiful? I have it checked out for this trip in case we have any bodyguard duties at any evening events for the clients." She was holding up a blue strapless gown on a hanger covered in a clear plastic bag.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he answered, wondering how there had managed to be an entire kunoichi section of the quartermaster's and indeed of the entire shinobi way of life that he'd managed to overlook until now. Of course he knew about girls and kunoichi and that there were Many Pleasant Things you could do with them and had pretty match participated in most of those in one state of sobriety of another. But the fact that they had a whole way of looking at the world that was uniquely there own had quite frankly, escaped him until now. Until now, it hadn't really mattered because until now no kunoichi had really mattered before. Weird.

"Hmmm," Yoshino seemed dissatisfied with his reaction. "Let me put it on. Looking at it through the plastic bag doesn't do it justice."

Before he could stop her and tell her not to bother it was too much trouble, she had slipped away. He waited, once again (why were you ALWAYS waiting on kunoichi?) and she finally appeared. She was right, the plastic bag absolutely did not do it justice.

It was a patterned blue satin, ruched at the top, cinched in at the waist and spilling to the floor like a waterfall. The skirt moved utterly fluid as she walked, like flowing water itself. Strapless, he was wondering what was holding it up until he realized that there _was_ nothing holding it up but Yoshino. How did that work? Just what were the mechanics of a strapless gown? Speechless, he was afraid he was going to have to utter some appropriate remark of which he was utterly bereft. However, Yoshino seemed to have gotten what she wanted just by the way he was looking at her and so satisfied she said she'd change back and they'd go on out to lunch.

Even though the day was beautiful, the sky clear blue and full of fluffy white clouds and Yoshino was by his side for lunch, Shikaku was uneasy. There was just too much going on. Tch. Too much troublesome shit. The ANBU. The lab. The creepy ANBU guy being Yoshino's leader this mission. The utter contempt which strapless evening gowns seemed to hold for the law of gravity.

And somewhere, in the pit of his stomach he had a sneaking suspicioun that he was beginning to see what Tsunade meant by protecting the young kunoichi from herself.


	14. I Can Dream About You

**Chapter 14: I Can Dream About You  
**

Yoshino sighed, looking around at the growing stacks of building materials that were destined to go back to Konoha. She shook her head – just like going on vacation – they were going to be bringing more stuff home than they took out with them. Still, she supposed this was good for trade overall. Konoha had a surplus of labor at the moment, there was an abundance of construction going on here in Wave and also an abundance of raw materials.

She looked at the stacks of lumber. To her, wood was wood. But the properties of the varieties of hardwoods that grew here in the Land of Waves seemed to be of particular interest to their clients. They'd be a veritable caravan on the way back to Konoha with all this stuff in tow. Something to do with the density of the fibers made it particularly weather resistent so the Leaf carpenters were anxious to work with it back home.

She sprang up into the trees to better overlook the cordoned off area. It might be good for business and trade but the ever expanding field was becoming more and more difficult to watch. Yoshino wasn't the only chuunin who thought so and they'd brought it up to the team leader and he had reluctantly agreed that they needed to post a second guard.

Mugato Uchiha, everything about the guy was so…surly. Sure, she understood and respected chain-of-command, it was important to a well-ordered unit, but Mugato treated the chuunin like mere _underlings._ It was distasteful to say the least. He was the complete opposite of her last team leader, Asako, Yoshino thought sadly to herself.

Ugh, five days into a two week mission and the hours were dragging by. It was a lovely afternoon and she wanted to slip off into blissful daydreams about Shikaku but that wouldn't be fair to her clients. Daydreaming in your off-hours only, Sakamoto, she told herself.

It was easy to want to retreat into daydreams. This mission was slipping easily into the drudge-work category. There was no violence or crime to speak of, no need for any battle tactics. Any minor altercations that did come up were handled either by the construction team leaders if it involved their personnel only or by Wave's local police force if local citizenry were involved. She'd heard of a few brawls, some stolen tools from various worksites, but not much else.

The city had the potential to shape up into a nice resort, unfortunately for now there was so much construction debris that it was really cluttering up the area. Plus it had rained recently and much of the cleared areas were now muddy, soggy messes. When you could find a nice spot on one of the beaches to relax in off-hours, the construction noise in the background made it not the most restful places to be. "Bustling" was certainly a good way to describe the city, but it was so far removed from what she was longing for right now.

Trying not to slip into full-blown daydream mode, she let her mind drift back to the first time she'd spent with Shikaku at the deer meadow. It was so quiet, so peaceful, the two of them had been completely alone, almost as if they were the only two people on the planet. No sounds of construction there, only birdsong and the chorus of crickets and cicadas. His arms around her had been so warm and strong, his voice deep and thrilling…

Speaking of voices she heard a couple of them now. Turning her focus to the sound she recognized one of the carpenters at the gate, not arguing with a delivery person so much as questioning him.

"You're sure? I didn't know anything about this load but okay, bring it on in. I can't imagine what our freight charges are going to be getting back home, but that's somebody else's problem."

The man looked up at her and waved, "Oi, Yoshino, I came back to pick up some stuff and found out there's more cargo to add to the lot. I'm letting him in, okay?"

She nodded back, "Thanks for letting me know."

After the guy had dropped of the additional lumber, Yoshino saw another figure approach.

Oh, crap.

Be careful what you wish for.

The chuunin had asked to work in pairs up since the storage lot was now so large and the stacks of lumber made observation difficult. So Mugato had said he'd set up a schedule starting today.

Crap.

One of the more unpleasant surprises on the outbound trip had been that the team wouldn't consist of only the four chuunin and two jounin who had met in the assignment room five days ago. Tsuyoshi Uchiha, Mugato's nephew was also on the team.

Apparently on the schedule she'd been assigned as his partner this first day.

She hoped the schedule allowed for some variability in the rotation. It would be a real pain in the butt to be stuck with this jerk the next, she counted quickly in her head, nine days.

"Yoshino-_san_," he sneered, looking up at her.

"Tsuyoshi-san," she acknowledged back, trying to keep the sneer out of her own voice, he wasn't even worth that. Ever since they'd gotten here he'd been following her around, it seemed like he was always behind her, or at team meetings, crowding next to her more than absolutely necessary.

Since he was technically thirty minutes late for the start of this shift she thought she should fill him in on the comings and goings since she had gotten here. "Zatoshi the carpenter is in the storage shed picking up some tools and there was a delivery just before…"

He cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I saw it all back at the tent."

Yoshino rolled her eyes. What a jerk. He didn't even have a reason for being late, wasn't even _pretending _to have one. He was what? All of twenty yards away, having his morning tea and just deciding when he'd get around to showing up for his assignment.

But then she sighed, there was no one to report him to, no one to complain to. She'd discovered very early on that he wasn't even just from the same clan as Mugato, he was the man's nephew.

She peered down at him from her perch up in the tree as he sat down against the fence opposite her. Dark hair, dark eyes and an utter jerk. How could he be the complete polar opposite of Shikaku?

Why couldn't he have been one of the ones assigned to this trip?

At least there was one saving grace on the trip – so far there had been no call to "reception duty." So even though there was grumbling among the rest of the chuunin about having to pack "gear" (she laughed to think of that dress as gear) they'd never use back and forth, still she was glad there had been and didn't appear to be on the horizon any reason for her to have to get dressed up in front of Tsuyoshi again. She couldn't say why that thought bothered her, it just did and that was enough.

Nine more days.

She was going to be slipping in and out of daydreams a lot.


	15. Since You're Gone

**Chapter 15: Since You're Gone**

Surveying the lab, Shikaku had to admit they were making some progress. Toward what, he still was not sure, but they were at least acquring a lot of data. They had more than just the two samples he'd seen Jiraiya and Orochimaru deliver. Obviously this had been known about at certain levels for some time now, just in order for the work on the lab to be authorized and completed. But he still had a lot of unanswered questions. Such as how long she herself had been working on this.

"Tsunade, can I ask you some questions?"

"Of course, Shikaku," she replied then paused, "Is everything okay?"

Damn. There she went again along _that_ line of thinking. He wished he never had asked her about kunoichi kits… for a lot of different reasons.

"About this," he motioned around the lab, "the work here."

"Yes, of course. I imagine you do have a lot of questions. I'm sorry, I said I'd fill you in but I don't think I've done a very good job beyond the first day. I was a little…distracted then."

He thought back to her behavior around Jiraiya that day and had to admit that her mind had certainly been elsewhere. And they'd never really discussed any "big picture" sort of stuff since that day. He was just executing tests and recording data as she ordered him to.

"Well, this just didn't happen over night…" again he motioned around the lab. The building was somewhat distant from the center of town but by no means was it hidden. He knew it had been under construction for months before he'd been assigned to this misson, as had the entire rest of Konoha that had reason to be in the area.

"The bulding, yes, you're right, it was originally intended to be a multi-purpose disease research lab, but this project took precedence."

"So that explains the reverse pressure room?" He noted that they hadn't really had any reason to use that yet. There was nothing they had worked on so far that would indicate there was any danger of a biological agent escaping. He would prefer if that remained the case.

Tsunade smiled just a little bit at that. "Yes, so far there's no reason to think the effects we've seen are anything other than the result of the chemical compounds contained in the pills. We just sort of inherited it as part of setting up shop in their shiny new Center for Disease Research building."

"I see. So when did you decide to co-opt their building?"

"We started hearing…something about a syndrome affecting, killing genjutsu users, first in the Land of Rain a year ago, but scattered reports started coming in from other locations as well. It didn't make sense, it wasn't a disease that we were tracking the cases were isolated, there didn't seem to be a vector of contamination. The genjutsu users who weren't dead when they were brought in to hospital were already comatose and their bodies would shut down soon after. Finally we got a lead from the Land of Lightning, Jiraiya got some information about a new drug being pushed to genjutsu users there."

"Jiraiya?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Believe me, he has contacts in places you don't even want to know about."

The two sat silently for a few seconds and Shikaku thought Tsunade was collecting her thoughts to continue her background discussion of their project. But she surprised him by asking him a question. "So, what nonsense has he been filling your head with?"

"What? Oh, well, nothing really," Shikaku realized that he couldn't lie worth a damn to her. He stuttered and then added "He hasn't said anything to me about this drug. " Which was technically true when you thought about it. Jiraiya had just repeated in front of Chouza and Inoichi what _Tsunade _had already told him that day. The rest of the discussion hadn't been about the lab or anything going on in the lab. No, it had all just been Jiraiya's take on the socio-political implications of such a drug. And besides, they'd been stoned. So, yes, technically _Jiraiya_ had not told _him_ anything about this drug.

"Shikaku?" She leaned forward and he had to fight to keep his eyes on hers and not let his gaze travel down to her chest.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Now what the hell did she want to know that for? Hell, how should he answer that? Say yes and she's going to go back on her "I-can-write-her-a-prescription" kick. Say no, and she'd catch him in a lie. But he didn't actually have a girlfriend. There was one particular girl that he'd like to be a lot friendlier with but they'd never said anything to each other about "boyfriend/girlfriend" status. So no, technically he did not have a girlfriend.

"No." He lied.

Tsunade sat back up and laughed. "Don't ever lie to her, Shikaku, you can't lie worth shit. So tell me, what did the old toad pervert tell you about this?"

"Nothing that I didn't already know from you," Shikaku answered honestly.

"Mmmmhmmm, did he share any of his own theories with you?"

"I….he…," well, shit, should he tell her? Jiraiya hadn't really told him to keep things from Tsunade, he seemed to want Tsunade to see things his way. And how could she do that if she didn't know what his view of the world was? So, operating under the assumption that Jiraiya hadn't told him anything he'd not already told Tsunade, he shared with her the Toad sage's theory that shinobi might be behind it.

Tsunade sat very still for awhile. Then she asked, "And Orochimaru was with him?"

"Yes."

Shikaku waited for her to say something else but she didn't. "Tsunade? Is something wrong?" As if there wasn't enough wrongness sitting right in front of him in the form of a few green pills that had the potential to alter the Hidden Villages very way of life.

Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes. "You know, sometimes I'm afraid that…that when someone spends all their time looking underneath the underneath that they may…they may see things that aren't there."

She looked up at him, a shattered expression in her honey-colored eyes. "I'm worried about him, Shikaku," she whispered.

Not knowing what to say, it was his turn to sit there still for a few minutes.

"Look, let's don't start any new runs this afternoon," she said, turning back to her microscope, all business again. "We'll finish the ones we have started and knock off early today, say around two."

"Tsunade, I don't mind staying, I might just as well stay since…"

"Don't worry about it," she said, "We'll get out of here early today and you can go spend time with your girlfriend. I know I kept you from her a lot last week. Besides, I need to go find Orochimaru."

Well, this was just great, Shikaku grumbled to himself. Work this past week had helped keep his mind off Yoshino. Now it looked like he was going to have some free time on his hands and Yoshino wasn't due back in for another nine days. Terrific.

True to her word, Tsunade was packed up and ready to leave the lab at two-thirty. They parted ways outside the lab after locking up.

Shikaku checked on Chouza and Inoicha. Not back yet. So, no one to hang out with there. That left him alone with his thoughts. He tried to run through everything he knew about this mess. Clearly, the genjutsu-enhancer was bad news all around. And he had to agree 100% with Jiraiya on this – whoever had made it had certainly _intended_ to create something so utterly addictive. That was certainly no accident. So did that leave it as a drug, or were we talking something designed as a weapon to entice and then incapacite a percentage of a hidden village's fighting force. What he wasn't sure he agree with was Jiraiya's suspicion of _who_ was behind it.

That night in his apartment, it had seemed blindingly clear that Jiraiya was on to something. Of course he was always going to have to qualify that with the fact that he was stoned.

And wasn't that just weird in and of itself. Why in the hell would those two just 'drop in' on him and his friends? WTF?

He hadn't really paid attention to where he was going. When he got like this, running things down systematically in his mind, over and over again, trying to see if there was something he'd overlooked, his feet just always seemed to automatically know where they were going. In short order he was in the meadow, lying on his back, looking up at the clouds.

He lay there gazing up into the sky, the wide vault of blue seemed to let him open his mind and try to take in a broader perspective than otherwise. Deep in thought, he was disturbed by a poof and a rustle of air.

Not even bothering to get up, he just looked to the side through slitted eyes and saw Jiraiya.

"She thinks you're crazy, you know. Tsunade thinks you're crazy," Shikaku said, returning his gaze to the blue sky above.

"Really? Huh. You learn something new every day." Jiraiya sat down beside him and took out his pipe, filling it with tobacco. "Here's something new for you to learn. She thinks you're cute, you know. Tsunade thinks you're cute. Too bad for you, you've got a girlfriend."

Shikaku yawned and stretched, sitting up. "Yeah, too bad for you, she's got a boyfriend," he tossed back. He studied Jiraiya carefully, watching his spine stiffening ever so slightly, front teeth clenching the pipe a little too hard. Too late, it dawned on him that this was _not _Inoichi or Chouza that he was fooling around with and did he _really_ want to piss the guy off?

"Yeah, too bad," Jiraiya said nonchalantly, not fooling Shikaku one bit.

"Do you mind telling me _why_ she thinks you're crazy?" Shikaku asked.

Jiraiya took his time, puffing on his pipe, Shikaku watching the smoke spiral skywards. The only sound was that of the birds in the trees and the cicadas in the background. Finally he spoke quietly to the younger man, "Tsunade forgets that if you spend your time looking underneath the underneath, you're bound to turn up something rotten and decayed."


	16. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

**Chapter 16: Crazy Little Thing Called Love**

"Would you put your shit up, Inoichi?" Shikaku yelled, "It's like living in a pig-sty around here." He picked up a couple of empty beer bottles and the magazines under them, tossing the magazines at Inoichi who was dozing on the couch and then heading to the trash can to dispose of the bottles.

"What is your problem?" Inoichi grouched, raising up off the couch and letting the magazines tumble to the floor.

Shikaku stalked back over to the couch and leaned over picking up the magazines to throw those away, since Inoichi wasn't claiming them.

"Wait…wait… that's the swimsuit edition of Shinobi Illustrated – I'm not done with it yet," Inoichi yelped, grabbing for the magazine.

"Then put it up, put all this crap back in your room. You've got stuff strewn all over the place. I'm tired of stepping over your shit!" Shikaku shoved the magazines back at the blonde.

Inoichi just looked in amazement at his friend, then over to the kitchen where Chouza was. "What the fuck did I do?"

"Yoshino's back," Chouza called back from the kitchen. "Or at least, she's due back today. I think our friend Shikaku is a little bit hen-pecked."

"Whipped you mean," Inoichi replied, Shikaku just glaring at him.

"Dunno," Chouza chuckled, "Not sure if you can call it that if you're not getting any."

"True, true," Inoichi mumbled, scrambling along behind Shikaku trying to gather up clothes and shoes before he pitched those into the trash as well.

Having collected an armful he went into his room, dumping those onto the bed. Returning to the living room he added thoughtfully, "Although, wouldn't that by definition mean you were even more whipped?"

Laughing, Chouza saw that his gear was the next target of Shikaku's purge and scurried to claim it all, depositing it in his own room and closing the door behind him. "Satisfied? " he asked, smirking.

"Look, there was stuff everywhere. It's a trip hazard everywhere you look," the dark haired boy began, sinking to the middle of the sofa.

"Shikaku, she's a kunoichi, perfect balance, perfect coordination, tip-top physical condition. She's not gonna trip in our living room," Chouza said in a reassuring voice, his teasing somewhat more gentle than that of Inoichi's as he settled down to the left of Shikaku.

"Tip-top," Inoichi nodded plopping down on the other side of his friend.

"What?"

"Kunoichi. They're in tip-top shape. Tip-top. Village girls are nice, they're more soft and cuddly, but kunoichi can handle a little more strenuous physical workout."

Shikaku looked at the blonde in amazement. "What do you mean a little more strenuous? Tsunade could whip your ass any day."

Leaning back against the sofa, legs sprawled in front of him, Inoichi looked at the ceiling and smiled, "Hell, I wouldn't mind if she did whip my ass every day."

Trapped between his two friends, Shikaku had to suffer through a couple of bawdy choruses of "What Do You Do With A Young Kunoichi" before struggling, laughing to his feet.

"Look, I'm going to go do laundry. Why don't you all do the same? It stinks around here." Still laughing he went to his room and stuffed everything into a duffel to take downstairs.

Chouza and Inoichi agreed that it was a good day for catching up and joined him.

"So, what are you two going to do today?" Chouza pestered him.

"I don't know." Shikaku grumbled.

"I know," Inoichi said brightly, "Why don't we all get see her. We can go to a movie just like last time…"

"That wasn't what I had in mind," Shikaku cut him off sharply.

But Chouza joined in on the fun, considering her "their" little kunoichi and Shikaku realized it wasn't going to be easy to get rid of his pestiferous friends. The three of them headed down to the mission room to see if she'd made it back yet.

To his satisfaction they were just returning after having seen to it that the cargo was accounted for in the receiving docks and all the civilians were taken care of as well. She was just collecting her pay when he came up to her in line.

"Shikaku," she said happily, "I didn't expect to see you here." Then looking over his shoulder, eyes wide, she added, "Or Inoichi and Chouza. Hi guys." She cocked an eyebrow at Shikaku and he just shrugged, hoping she knew that he had at least tried to ditch his friends.

It was…kind of frustrating in an odd kind of way to be standing there with him after wanting to see him for so long. Part of her wanted to throw herself into his arms and kiss him and part of her realized that she really had no right, as a matter of fact it would be downright embarassing, inappropriate even, especially with his two friends with him.

After stowing her gear back at her house they spent the day together, all four of them, cruising the streets of Konoha. They went past a bookstore and as Shikaku had expected, he ended up having to pull her and Inoichi both out of the sword-and-sorcery section (or as Inoichi affectionately referred to it the slash-and-screw section) after what seemed like hours. Which raised the interesting point of did Yoshino actually read that genre? Apparently so because she was arguing with Inoichi over the finer points of one of his favorite series. He thought that if he and Chouza had left them there until closing time, they probably would have been right where they left them, flipping through books and earning the ire of the shopkeeper.

Shikaku had noticed while in the bookstore, a certain dark-haired customer in a Uchiha-crest jacket seemed to be overly interested in Yoshino's conversation with Inoichi. She seemed to be uncomfortable around him. Interesting. He'd have to ask her about him later.

They finally parted ways for the evening when Chouza and Inoichi decided to go get dinner and Shikaku and Yoshino indicated they weren't hungry yet. Watching the two friends head off to the restaurant, Shikaku and Yoshino turned and strolled off in the opposite direction. Without having a conscious plan in mind, they walked hand-in-hand in the evening, eventually winding back up in his neighborhood.

He went to pull her to him then, but not really having to as she was already stepping into his embrace. Shikaku leaned down to kiss her for the first time that day, for the first time since she'd left two weeks ago. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close.

Stretching herself out against him, Yoshino realized how much she loved that feeling of his arms around her, like he was never letting go. She loved that he was so much taller than her, she loved how his arms felt around her, loved his beard and the way his shoulders were so broad beneath her hands, loved how he tasted. She realized quite profoundly how much she loved … him.

Breaking the kiss, breath hot in her ear, beard pleasantly scratchy at her cheek, he whispered, "I missed you."

She respondily huskily against him, "God, I missed you too."

Hands slipping down from her waist now to curve against her butt, pulling her hard against him. Yoshino clung to him, barely balanced on her tip-toes depending on him to stand for the both of them. He kissed her hard, hungrily, leaving her gasping for breath as he kissed down her throat and across to the sensitive juncture between her neck and shoulder, causing her to arch her head to one side. He nipped and then licked there where his teeth had barely grazed, making her knees turn to jelly,sure that she'd never be able to stand on her own.

His voice was rough,back at her ear again, demanding but pleading at the same time. "Stay, Yoshino. Can you stay?"

"I…I…yes," she answered weakly.

Taking her by the hand, he led them up the stairs to the doorway to his apartment. Fumbling with his keys, he finally got the right one in the lock. As he turned it with one hand, he slipped the other around her waist, holding her tight, kissing her deeply, tongue probing, seeking as they tumbled in the door.

They managed to make it to the sofa and sank down together on it, sitting at first but then lying back together, Shikaku leaning above her. She couldn't get enough of him, not his hands or his tongue or his taste or his scent.

He skimmed those hands down her body and then back up, slipping one beneath her tunic on the way, the silk of her skin softer and warmer and more wonderful than that of her shirt. His other hand was making deft work of the toggle buttons of the tunic, he already had half of them unbuttoned when the hand beneath her shirtbrushed across one breast, cupping it then working on the little clasp of her bra.

Quivering, she recognized that she was already half-way undressed faster than she would have thought possible. Part of her was thinking that she should really say something like stop or wait but all that seemed to make it past her lips was to murmur his name.

He brushed the cloth of her tunic and bra aside and she trembled like a leaf beneath his hands. And everywhere his lips touched, his hands touched her skin in those places burned her like fire. Kissing further down now, she felt the roughness of his beard at her throat at her chest, as his lips traveled on down her body.

Below on the street just outside the apartment, two friends returned with their bags of take-out. Having been away the whole day they decided to simply get the food to go and hang out back in the apartment for the evening. As they approached, Inoichi got a wicked gleam in his eye, sensing immediately what his long-term friend was up to.

Chouza hissed after him, "Inoichi! Inoichi! You're spying again aren't you?"

Inoichi just looked back over his shoulder. "Hey, you can come with me or you can yell from out here right now and warn him. Which is it going to be?"

Chouza just grinned back and shrugged. Being ninjas after all, the two of them ascended the stairs in complete silence.

"Hand check!" Inoichi yelled, bounding through the door.

Shikaku set upright, pulling Yoshino up with him, she had her head down, face buried against his shoulder, shaking, but actually laughing a little in relief. Things had really been going a little too fast – it was almost frightening and she was actually a bit relieved that they had been interrupted.

"Inoichi! What the hell…"

"Hey, hand check, Shikaku, get them up. You too, Yoshino!" he teased as Chouza sat the food down in the kitchen.

Still giggling against his shoulder, Yoshino fumbled with her own clothes hastily redoing the clasp and buttons. She smoothed her hair and smiled at Shikaku who was wondering if he could strangle Inoichi in his sleep tonight. He sighed heavily, very heavily and smiled back at her. Some things were worth waiting for.

"So, who wants dinner?" Inoichi asked, quite pleased with himself.

_A/N: Poor Shikaku, between ANBU and Inoichi what's a shinobi got to do to get laid around here?_


	17. Head Games

**Chapter 17: Head Games**

Shikaku was tired, exhausted. Unfortunately, he had also found an interesting thread of inquiry and brought it to Tsunade's attention and she wanted to pursue it, and thus had resumed her original grueling schedule.

Terrific.

Yoshino was back in town and Shikaku was stuck in the lab from 7 in the morning until well after midnight each night.

Jiraiya had dropped off additional pills one day. The conversation between the two sannin had been brief and tense, making Shikaku curious about just what was going on between the two former teammates. Whatever was the cause of the tension, that was the day the marathon schedule had picked back up.

He really wished he'd kept his mouth shut that day. They'd been in the anteroom of the building, the three of them, with Jiraiya handing the new samples to Tsunade. It was a good thing that he'd brought them a new supply, they tried to minimize the destructive tests until they could isolate the unique components but some things you just couldn't do that that way.

But something the white-haired man had said about the increasing prevalence of the contraband, just caused Shikaku to say without thinking 'sprouting up like weeds.'

The two older shinobi just looked at him as he went on, making random linkages that actually seemed to make sense on a certain level.

"What if," Shikaku began, thinking out loud, "it is like a weed, it's not something that's manufactured, in an industrial setting. What if it's something that's grown, like that wood Yoshino was talking about. The one with the properties the builders want, not manufactured like pressboard, but grown, the tree grows the way they want it to. It's been genetically modified to have the characteristics they need."

Jiraiya asked quickly, "What wood?"

"They're bringing shitloads of it back from Wave. It's grown to be durable but light weight, hell it even grows to a targeted height and effectively snaps off. Leave it on the ground for a day and the bark just falls off. It's all…programmed into it genetically to behave that way, to have that specific growth cycle. Not only is it the perfect building material for climates like theirs and ours, heavy moisture content in the air, but its own growth cycle removes at least two steps from the manufacturing process – they don't have to cut it and mill the bark off of it. They just wait for it to do all the work and then pick up the readied logs directly from the field."

Tsunade was looking at him, incredulously, "What does wood have to do with what we're talking about here?"

"Don't you see? We're looking for something that would involve a certain level of chemical manufacturing infrastructure. What if that's not it – what if somebody has taken some naturally occurring psychoactive compounds and altered them to the same level that the wood in Wave's been altered. It's no longer just generally psychoactive, not just gonna give you a pleasant awareness shift like those seeds from the spider-glories in the Yamanaka shop…"

He stopped, eyes wide, realizing what he had just said and added sheepishly, "er…so I've been told."

Looking up at the two older shinobi, he was surprised to see them both smiling faintly at him and for the first time that day relaxed a little bit with each other as well.

Tsunade laughed faintly, "or jirobaiyo weed…"

Jiraiya mused fondly, "or slashsalvia…" He jerked himself out of his reverie. "Okay, Nara, good lead. I'll tell Orochimaru, only this time he gets Rain. I'm going to the beach."

And so now, because he had done a good job and opened up a new avenue for them, time with Yoshino was difficult to come by making Shikaku doubly frustrated. Shit, Jiraiya was right, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.

The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Here he was, spending hours locked in a room alone together with the girl of his teenage fantasties (well, okay, he was nineteen but that was beside the point). And he really didn't want to be with that girl. He wanted to be with Yoshino. He had a whole different set of fantasies now involving Yoshino (well, okay, from a physical activities standpoint there was a lot of overlap but that was beside the point.)

His fantasies of Tsunade had involved sex, sex, more sex, fantastic sex and mind-boggling sex. Not that his fantasies of Yoshino didn't percolate along the same themes but other things kept creeping in there, too, thoughts of just being with her in the meadow. Thoughts of how, even though he wanted to kill Inoichi and Chouza for interrupting what had turned out to be his only full day with her, he couldn't deny that it had been nice all four of them hanging out together that one day, a day that now seemed to far away in a sleep-deprived blur of memory. She had just fit in with them so well.

And that kept bringing him back to thoughts of how she fit with him as well, how his arms fit around her, the dip of her waist seemingly made just for him to hold her. How she came only up to his chin so that when he did hold her his head rested on hers, while hers was on his chest, at his heart.

He shook his head out of his reverie, trying to turn his attention back to the lab equipment he was tending to. Yes, the irony of the situation was indeed not lost on him. As if it wasn't bad enough he was stuck here (he honestly never thought he would get to the point in his life where he would consider time with Tsunade as being "stuck with her" but there you had it.) Yoshino was becoming rather, prickly, about the whole situation.

The last couple of lunches they'd had together (since those were the only times they could be together) had ended on a little bit of a testy note, and Yoshino, after saying goodbye, would add something to the effect of 'I know you have to get back to work' the last word as sharp as a kunai.

Well, yeah, he did have to get back to work and so did she. She didn't have to be so snarky about it.

It was only this morning that he realized how many days they had been at this. She was heading back out for two weeks in just a couple more days. Shit. The whole fortnight of her time in town was almost over.

Lunchtime came and and he hurried out recognizing he only had lunch today and tomorrow left with her before an enforced absence. They met at their normal spot, the meadow and ate together the meal from the bentos she had brought. Her upcoming trip loomed between the two of them and they didn't say much. As soon as they were finished, Yoshino began to pack up. Shikaku looked up at her, wondering why she was in such a hurry to leave.

Sure enough, she said it, "I know you have to get back to work' but then this time she actually added 'with Tsunade' to the end of it.

He stared at her in amazement. She was jealous? Still? After that ridiculous experience with the shirt? And she still thought…

This just pissed him off.

She'd gathered her things now and packed them up. She was turning to walk away when he stopped her with kagemane no jutsu.

"Nara, what in the hell are you doing?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"I want to know what in the hell you're doing, stalking off all huffy like this," he answered, walking around to face her, still keeping her in the shadow possession. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood looking at her.

She tried to struggle against the jutsu but to no avail, she was locked down tight. Yoshino just glared at him, "What are you talking about? I made a simple statement of fact, you have to get back to work and so do I."

"Yes, but it was the way that you said it."

"What? What does the way I say something have to do with anything?"

"You say it like you're angry," then he added, "at me."

"I am angry!" she snapped, pulling hard against the jutsu, shit, it was taking a lot of chakra to hold her still, he could feel it. "I'm angry that you do have to go back to work with Tsunade…"

He leaned forward and kissed her roughly, still holding her in shadow possession but now also holding her. He stopped and she added somewhat more softly, "I'm angry that you've had to work so many hours with her that we've hardly had any time together."

"With who?"

"Who? What do you mean who? With Tsunade!"

He kissed her again, tilting his head since he wouldn't let her tilt her own.

He stopped and let her talk once more and she continued, "And I am very angry that I have to be gone for two weeks starting day-after-tomorrow leaving you here…with Tsunade."

He kissed her again.

"But I am angry at the situation, not you, or…Tsunade," she whispered.

Another kiss.

"Tsunade."

Kiss.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled. "Is this positive behavior reinforcement? Do you want me to keep saying her name?"

He laughed, his lips brushing against hers, "I'm waiting for you to figure it out."

"Figure what out?"

"That if you'd shut up I could kiss you more."

She paused for a minute. "Stupid Nara. You really don't think these things through do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Idiot. If you'd release your jutsu then I could hold you and you'd enjoy it a lot more."

"Oh." And he did so.

They clung to each other for a long time, until very softly she said, "We really do have to get back you know."

He sighed and helped her to regather he dropped items. "Lunch tomorrow?" He asked, knowing it would be their last day together for a while.

"Yes," she agreed, "Lunch tomorrow."

Unfortunately, lunch tomorrow didn't occur as planned. On his way to the lab the next morning, a pretty little genin with crimson eyes stopped him and handed him a note from Yoshino. Damn! Her team was pulling out a day early. There was an inbound weather front headed their way and they wanted to make the transfer of crews before it hit.

Both he and Tsunade were in pissy moods that day. He knew his was due to the fact that he'd have two more weeks until he could see Yoshino again. But what had set her off? He was barely cordial that day, to the point of guiltily recognizing that she should have called him on it. However, Tsunade was so wrapped up in whatever was eating her, that she didn't even seem to pay it any mind.

After dragging by, the day finally came to a close. Once again, pitch dark, after midnight when they locked up. The stars were sprinkled in the sky over head. Tsunade had turned her key in the lock and stood aside so that he could finish up. Shikaku had his back to her when he heard her snap, "What the hell do you want?"

Startled, he looked around, wondering if he'd done something to offend her, or if she'd finally had enough of his attitude by the end of the day. To his surprise he saw Jiraiya standing there.

"I came to say goodbye, Hime, I'll be in Wave for the next few days," he answered her.

Tsunade tossed her hair, "Yeah, so." She looked up at Shikaku and told him 'goodnight' and 'see you in the morning' in a tone that made it clear he was dismissed.

Interesting.

Well, hell, since he didn't have anything else to do, Yoshino gone, Inoichi and Chouza gone, after midnight, he decided to hang back a little bit and see if he could find out anything about these two on his own. He walked off in the direction of his apartment and then slipped into the shadows, pulling them closer about him and turning to see what the two were up to.

They were walking away from the lab, arguing. This was going to be tricky. He followed along, hiding effectively in the shadows trying to figure out an optimum distance where he could hear what they were saying and yet have a prayer of not being found out.

Fortunately, Tsunade's voice was escalating so he didn't have to get all that close.

"Do you realize how you sound, Jiriaya?" she was gesticulating, waving her hands at him, "like a…like a jealous kid."

"Okay, forget that part of it just for a moment. I would have never brought it up to you, if I'd known you were going to dismiss the whole theory because…"

"Dismiss? It's crazy! Do you honestly expect me to believe…"

"Maybe you'll believe Orochimaru if he's the one coming back from Rain this time."

"Believe what?"

"I told you, leave out the part that makes you think I'm just a jealous kid."

"So that leaves me with what? A conspiracy theory that is unprecedented? You think ANBU are behind this? And why is that again?"

"Who benefits?"

"You are impossible!" She looked as if she were about to hit him. "Who BENEFITS? What benefit? What benefit is there to maintaining, hell even escalating, a balance of terror between nations? No! ANBU are loyal to their villages. This is the work of some drug cartel, money alone is the only motive."

"There is a profound benefit to maintaining the status quo, Tsunade. Perpetual war for perpetual stability. I'm not saying all ANBU are behind it. But a small contingent, placed high enough could orchestrate things between nations and with the right connections internally within a nation as well."

Tsunade rolled her eyes "Oh, right, I forgot – the other part of your Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory. It's not enough to involve the ANBU, you've got to pull the police force into it, too? The Uchiha clan? What shit were you smoking on that mountain, you stupid Toad Sage or were you just licking their backs?"

"For God's sake, Tsunade," he said, "don't you see the lunacy in the concentration of power of an entire police force within a single clan? Konoha was the first village to adopt that model, but I travel more than you do and other nations, other villages are adopting it as well. It is not a healthy society."

He was standing closer to her now, looking down at her, holding her by one elbow. She jerked her arm away.

"Fuck you! I'm going to Rain with Orochimaru! Have fun at the beach. Take Shikaku with you, hook him up with his little girlfriend. Maybe if he gets laid he won't be such a piss-ant when he gets back. I've had enough crap out of both of you today!"

Jiraiya stood glaring at her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Well, you do the same, Princess, and maybe when you get back…"

"Fuck off!" she hissed over her shoulder, walking away.

Shikaku sat very quietly in the shadows until long after the two had stormed off. Well, he thought to himself, guess that answered the question as to whether or not Tsunade was paying any attention to his attitude today.


	18. Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

**Chapter 18: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?**

Shikaku hurried back home after he was sure that Jiraiya and Tsunade had completely left the area. He wasn't sure if Jiraiya was going to follow up on Tsunade's suggestion to take him to Wave or not but he sure as hell wanted to be home in case the guy showed up at his apartment tonight or tomorrow morning.

He hadn't been home long when he heard the door open and was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see his roommates return. He'd lost track of the number of days they were going to be out, focusing only on his dwindling time with Yoshino. He greeted them and caught up on what they had been doing the last few days.

"Man, Shikaku, isn't there a ninja delivery service or something? I feel like I ought to get my own set of those goofy goggles they wear, as many scrolls as we've been sent to courier back and forth," Chouza grouched.

"I mean, couldn't we at least track down some low-level missing-nin or something? I'm sick of being the damn mail man," Inoichi added.

Shikaku thought about telling them to come to Wave with him tomorrow but then quickly shut up. First of all, he didn't even know if Jiraiya would come through on what Tsunade had said clearly in ire. And second, whether or not Jiraiya did show up, Shikaku now knew he had the next two days off and he was going with or without the sannin. And definitely without his two best friends – this was one trip he could make on his own.

The next morning, a smiling Jiraiya arrived on his doorstep, entering and filling him in a bit on the necessary trip. Shikaku tried to act like he didn't know anything about it, not wanting to let slip that he'd overheard the entire conversation with Tsunade the night before.

A sleepy pair of roommates joined him in the kitchen as Jiraiya was outlining some of what they would be doing. "Why does Shikaku get all the cloak and dagger stuff?" grumbled Chouza. "Are we not ninja, too?"

Jiraiya just laughed and told them to come along.

"What? Why?" Shikaku sputtered, not wanting to tick off his friends but utterly amazed that he was going to be stuck with them when he might actually have a chance to slip away and see Yoshino this trip. Besides, hadn't Tsunade told Jiraiya to see to it that they did get together? Shit, any other time a road trip with his two friends would have been a great chance to relax, but just this once, please let them stay home.

"Sure, we'll put it on Tsunade's budget. Come on, the more feet on the ground, eyes open, mouths shut, the more we'll learn."

Shikaku's descent into self-pity was interrupted by a knock at the door. Inoichi went to open it and was greeted by one of the Academy instructors with a young boy in tow. "Inoichi Yamanaka?" the woman asked.

"Yes?" Inoichi asked looking puzzled.

"You've signed up as a Shinobi-senpai at the Academy, escorts for soon to be graduating academy students correct?"

"Umm, yes," Inoichi answered looking back over his shoulders, rolling his eyes at his friends and mouthing the words 'community service' to them.

"Well, then this is your student-intern kohai, Hatake Kakashi." The boy bowed and spoke quietly, "Pleased to meet you, senpai."

Inoichi stood dumbfounded looking at the little boy in front of him. "This kid is gonna graduate? When?"

"With the next graduating class, sir," the lady informed him.

"Oh, well, err, what do I do with him?" Inoichi asked.

"He is to accompany you on any missions within the city boundaries and also on any D-rank or C-rank missions elsewhere."

"Elsewhere? You mean if I go out of town, he comes too?"

"Yes sir, unless of course, you were to be called to a B-rank or higher mission."

Inoichi looked hopefully at Jiraiya who laughed once again. "Observation only, clearly only D or C rank. Let's bring him along, besides, kids are great babe-magnets. Look at those big dark eyes, they'll be flocking to him like bees to honey."

Mutely, Inoichi accepted the paperwork she handed him. "He's your charge for one week, sir. Thank you for signing up with the program. The Academy appreciates your support." And with that she vanished.

"Well shi-, I mean da- I mean heck, kohai, come on in and meet the team," Inoichi said awkwardly as he led the boy into the kitchen and fixed him a bowl of cereal.

Kakashi bowed politely as he was introduced to each one. Then the five males sat around the room regarding each other dubiously. Shikaku was just shaking his head – how was it possible that this was going to get any worse. Tsunade's hint of going to Wave with Jiraiya had literally been the first time that the thought had popped into his head. Once he'd paused to consider it last night he really hoped that Jiraiya did not come and make a mission out of it, leaving him two or three Tsunade-free days while she was out with Orochimaru to make the trip to see Yoshino by himself.

Now he had the old goat, his two bawdy roommates and a pup, a literal wet-behind-the-ears still in school pup tagging along. This was not going according to plan.

The trip outbound took longer than expected, another sore point for Shikaku. They had to travel at kid-speed and even though the boys had to admit that he was a fast little almost-genin, he was still a kid after all. They had to go slower and take more breaks.

Eventually they even had to make camp for the night. Again, definitely not part of Shikaku's game plan.

"Cute kid," Jiraiya said after returning from checking on the boy to make sure he was settled in for the night.

The four sat around a small campfire, since there was no need to hide their position. Officially they were not on a mission, as a matter of fact Jiraiya had even had them stop by the missions room to have Morino-san list them all as out on leave for a couple of days. They were ostensibly just four friends traveling to a resort town. With a kid in tow.

"So, what are we actually supposed to do here?" Chouza asked.

"Watch. Listen."

Shikaku lit a cigarette, "Yes but watch or listen for what?"

Jiraiya looked at Chouza and Inoichi. "Were you two able to buy? You've been where the last two weeks, at least to Rain once, Lightning once, right? Any buyers or sellers, there?"

Inoichi looked a little sheepish and then answered him, "Yeah, we could buy." Fishing around in a pocket of his jounin vest, he managed to come up with the necessary supplies to roll a joint. He lit it and then passed it on down to Jiraiya. "But it wasn't our regular guy."

"So what IS this all about?" Shikaku asked impatiently. He was tired of the snippets he was getting here and there. "This compartmentalization nonsense is bullshit. How do you expect me to formulate a reasonable hypothesis if you only give me 20% of the data? 30% of the data? It's frustrating as hell!"

"You know about the pills," Jiraiya said, leaning back and blowing smoke skyward. "You know somebody's got to be behind that. Somebody with the resources to actually make that come about."

"We covered that in our last bull session, " Shikaku cut him off sharply.

Jiraiya just cocked an eyebrow at him and passed the joint to Chouza. "Well, what you probably don't know smart-ass is that everywhere I've looked I keep coming up with two groups of people. ANBU between villages and Uchiha internal to Konoha. Uchihas are taking leadership roles, senior roles on more and more trade missions like the ones your little girlfriend is on. Missions where there is a lot of cargo transported between villages. Now those are usually not so high ranked nor so high paying. Why would our vaunted Uchihas want to volunteer so altruistically to do those tasks 'for the good of the village?' And how is it that even though statistically speaking, Nara-san," he sneered Shikaku's name, "members from Uchiha are taking more lower-paying jobs there certainly doesn't seem to be any loss of income to their clan?"

Shikaku started to speak but Jiraiya cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"And why is it that there's a sudden increase in the number of small time dealers being rounded up and squeezed out of business by ANBU? ANBU? Since when the fuck do they care about piddly-shit like a little grass back and forth between villages? Unless of course, they are co-opting the routes, replacing dealers with their own?"

"Now, everything I'm telling you, Nara-san, is publicly available, mission assignment reports, police reports, etc., if you'd just get up off your ass and look. You knew from the very first day of this mission that ANBU were involved, I told you so myself. Somebody is going to great lengths to set up a shadow distribution network and it's happening right in front of us. And if it's happening right in front of us, then it means that we're not the only ones to figure it out. So there's somebody high enough up to make sure that it does happen. Somebody who's got the clout and the balls to see that their 'project' continues to unfold even as more and more of it is revealed. Somebody maybe as high as an ANBU captain."

"Who's the ANBU captain, now?" Chouza butted in quickly, seeing the look in Shikaku's eye and not wanting to give him a chance to snap back at Jiraiya.

"Mugato Uchiha." Jiraiya exhaled, blowing a smoke-ring skyward. "Now, why would Konoha's ANBU captain be heading up a trade mission to WAVE? I wonder."

The four sat in silence, Chouza keeping an eye on Shikaku. Then Jiraiya added softly. "There is one more thing that's public knowledge. And that is why is their a statistically higher than average number of genjutsu users that have gone missing this last year?"

Inoichi shifted uncomfortably and Jiraiya continued softly, "The last two that went missing were Yamanaka, weren't they?"

"Yeah," Inoichi answered in a soft voice, "Cousins. Distant, I didn't know them that well, but…but you don't think they had anything to do with it, do you?"

"No. I know they didn't and…" Jiraiya paused before continuing, "and what's not public is that they aren't missing. Their bodies are in Rain. That's where Orochimaru and Tsunade have gone. We think…we think they must have been test subjects."

"So why did you come to us, to Shikaku that first night, anyway?" Chouza asked.

"I knew Shikaku was the one Tsunade would pick as her assistant. But I knew her opinion on this. She refuses to believe that it could be shinobi doing this to fellow shinobi. That they could be doing this to promote a low level of war that would essentially keep them, all of us as shinobi, in business. I wanted to make sure I gave you both sides of the story. You can't, of course, discount the possibility that she is right though and that I am a lunatic. "

"There are a couple of other people who know my view on this. You can trust them. Orochimaru. Morino at missions. And Tsunade. She may not agree with me but you can trust her. "

Shikaku finally spoke up, "Okay, I've got one question, too. Where's Minato? What's he doing in all of this?"

He didn't really expect an answer, what he wanted was to see the reaction. He got it. In the firelight Jiriaya's eyes went sharp then shuttered, his posture tensed then shoulders slumped as if in defeat. "He's on an assignment for the Hokage," Jiraiya muttered then lay on his bedroll, turned to his side and had nothing further to say.

Shikaku took the first watch that night. They didn't really expect any trouble. The night was clear, he sat a little bit apartment from he rest of the group and looked up at the stars. After all he'd learned tonight, after all he'd seen and heard between the three legendary sannin over the few weeks, one thing was abundantly clear to him.

Turning 30 must suck.


	19. Adventures In Babysitting

**Chapter 19: Adventures In Babysitting**

Yoshino looked out the window of the hospitality suite in the high rise resort building on the coast. She smiled to herself. When a daiymo threw a party, they really threw a party. Apparently the negotiations had gone exceedingly well, new trade avenues were open, tariff issues were resolved, the chief negotiator for Konoha was happy, his counterpart locally was happy, the daiymo was happy and they were all celebrating.

Of course, officially, Yoshino wasn't celebrating, she was on body guard duty for some of the diplomats. But still their party gave her a reason to get dressed up. She held the skirt of her blue dress out to the side and let it slip through her fingers, rippling to the floor like the ocean waves outside the window. Elbow resting on the balcony rail, chin propped in her hand, the warm breeze flitted around her. Not-so-stray tendrils of dark locks draped artfully from her pinned up hair, held in place by the jeweled hairsticks. Smiling at that she wondered, did guys really think that was an accident? Didn't they know how long it took to get those 'stray' bits of hair to look just-so?

She sighed. If only Shikaku were here with her.

Down below, in the streets of the city, she would have been surprised to know that the oddly assembled 'team' was indeed looking for her. Shikaku had been frustrated when they'd gotten to the encampment and she wasn't there. Yoshino had been staffed to one of the diplomats that day as their administrative aide. She would be in meetings all day long and unavailable.

Jiraiya had had them split up into teams, Shikaku and Chouza taking the area outside the city limits itself, Inoichi and his little kohai remaining inside the city along with Jiraiya. Shikaku idly wondered if Jiraiya had been serious, was he actually going to use the kid as bait to get the attention of chicks? Somehow, he thought to himself, this was probably not the training and mentoring the Academy had in mind. He shuddered, this was the kind of stuff that could scar that kid for life.

Turning his attention back to their location he stood in amazement staring at the field in front of him. Whatever the techniques that the forest products developers were using it was certainly impressive. Trees grew in front of him in homogenously sized groups. They could effectively grow the number of boardfeet they needed in predefined sizes. A field a little further in the distance appeared ready for harvest. The trees could simply be pushed over, no saws involved at all. Yet another field revealed ones that had been felled for a couple of days, the bark simply peeling off. Shikaku shook his head, science-fucking-fiction.

It was awe-inspiring and creepy too. The idea that you could turn on and off behaviors so precisely just seemed profoundly wrong, unnatural even. Thinking of applying that technique to something psychotropic that could then be used to turn on and off or amplify traits and skills in shinobi seemed even more unnatural. He was starting to understand why Tsunade was going around with ragged fingernails now.

Rounding up Chouza they headed back into the village. He didn't know exactly what Jiraiya had wanted them to look for but one thing was certain was that Wave was certainly a destination spot for any designer agricultural products you might need. Seeing the operation in action was profoundly more impressive than simply reading about it in a journal.

Stopping back by the encampment that night he was annoyed yet again to find out that not only was Yoshino not back yet, she wasn't even coming back. There was a reception tonight at one of the resorts and she was staffed to it. The entire team that had drawn that duty had packed for the morning and dropped their changes of clothes off at the hotel this morning before going to the meeting.

He and Chouza parted ways then, the red-head turning his direction toward their own set of rooms in the modest inn they had checked into in the morning. Shikaku thought he would (silently) crash the party and see if he could find Yoshino.

Back in the hospitality suite, Yoshino checked the time and realized her break was almost over. Reluctantly leaving the balcony, she gave one last look at the moon rising over the ocean, reflected in the waves and doubly regretting the fact that she was here on a mission and not on vacation. Re-entering the room from the balcony she heard someone at the door and went to open it, expecting to find the next team member who was due for their break.

"Inoichi?" she asked, staring at the tall blonde boy in front of her.

"Hey," he mumbled to her, closing the door behind him.

Puzzled, she repeated his name, "Inoichi, what are you doing here? Are you all here? Where's Shikaku? Chouza?"

"I came to see you," he said, reaching out and touching her cheek.

Baffled, Yoshino stepped back. "Inoichi, I… I need to get back downstairs, my break is over."

"You can stay…awhile," he said, stepping toward her.

Yoshino went to step back again or around him or something but found she couldn't move. Shinranshin no jutsu. She tried to pull against it, like she had with Shikaku's shadow bind but she couldn't, her muscles wouldn't work. They simply weren't obeying her.

She could speak, though, and she whispered again, "Inoichi, please, what are you doing?"

He leaned forward, rough hands grabbing at her shoulders, kissing her, ramming his tongue down her throat and she could do nothing to stop it, just stood there, muscles completely unresponsive.

"I said you can stay…awhile…and so can I," he answered gruffly, kissing her again, tongue so far down her throat she thought she'd gag.

She could talk so she could scream she realized. That's it. as soon as the jerk stopped she'd scream like a bloody banshee.

Inoichi pulled back and looked at her, wicked gleam in his eye. Yoshino opened her mouth and…nothing happened.

"Shhhh…," he leered at her, "Can't let you scream, now can I? We wouldn't want anybody to disturb us would we?"

Oh, God, her mind was a whirl. This couldn't be happening. Why was he here? Where was the team mate whom she was supposed to be relieving? This could NOT be happening.

Then to her absolute disgust and horror she saw her own arm lift up, draping across Inoichi's shoulder, her feet making small jerking steps closer to him.

No,no,no, she whispered to herself in her mind. He was making her body behave the way he wanted. Like a puppet on a string, he was controlling her movements.

Shinranshin was a genjutsu, she should be able to release it. She tried to whisper the release but his power was too strong. She needed the handseals to be able to focus more chakra to release shinranshin this powerful. And he was controlling her hands.

She wanted to barf as her left hand at his shoulder pulled her own body closer to him, her right hand forced to palm his growing erection through his clothes. Oh, God!

"What's the matter, baby? Aren't you glad to see me?" he mumbled in her ear as his hands grabbed her ass, yanking her close to him. "Your boyfriend goes to all this trouble to come and see you and you aren't glad? And I know you don't even have to worry about any souvenirs because you've got a kit you can take care of it with."

Boyfriend? The hell?

He was slobbering in her ear now, now down her throat, thumbs circling roughly at the center of her breasts through the ruched fabric of the top.

Boyfriend? Why would Inoichi say he was her boyfriend? What kind of friend was he to Shikaku if…?

A piece of the puzzle fell into place in her mind. That day at the bookstore. She and Inoichi had been in the one section the entire afternoon, laughing, bickering, side by side looking at various volumes. Shikaku and Chouza and wandered around the entire store but she and Inoichi had stayed put in the sword-and-sorcery section.

And that creep Tsuyoshi had been staring at her most of that afternoon.

Oh, God! This wasn't Inoichi. It was Tsuyoshi. It was Tsuyoshi grabbing her ass and licking her shoulders.

She felt her own hips sway, involuntarily, grinding againt him. Ugh! She was going to vomit right here, right now.

But Tsuyoshi was Uchiha – was he able to do shinranshin? Was he a Sharingan wielder? Had he copied shinranshin before?

It really didn't matter. What mattered right now was Sharingan or not, he was using shinranshin to rape her.

Thankfully, at least for a moment, he removed his mouth from her and stood up and said "You do it."

Revulsion filled her as she watched her own hands travel to her shoulders and then slide down her body, pushing the fabric over the swell of her breasts, down to her waist, leaving the strapless bra exposed.

"Tch, tch, bra, too," Inoichi-Tsuyhoshi muttered.

He may have been using shinranshin but not very skillfully. He certainly wasn't very deft about what he was making her fingers do. Rather than sliding the bra down too he seemed to want to open the clasp in the center. He was controlling her fingers but in a fumbling way.

This gave Yoshino and idea. If she could just work with the jutsu, rather than struggle against it then she might be able to do something.

She tried to move her fingers on her own and realized that if she was moving them in the direction he was she had a litle bit of control herself. Pretending to fumble with her own motions, she hooked the spool of wire that was threaded in with the underwire of the bra and pulled it out palming it, hoping that he wouldn't see, then realizing that the only thing he would want to see were her tits, paying no attention to anything else. She heard the click of the clasp and held the two sides as he made her pull her hands to the side, showing him her breasts.

He of course, never noticed the little spool of wire in her one hand. Covering one breast clumsily with a large hand, he pawed at her, willing her to walk her body back close to him. Again she found that if she moved in the direction he was moving her she had a little bit of control over her own muscles.

And he wanted her to embrace him, making her throw her arms about his shoulders, which she did, loop of wire on each them.

And he willed her to circle her hands behind his neck which she did, tightening the wire around his throat and pulling hard.

He sputtered against her, his focus now on grasping at the wire at his throat.

Yoshino pulled tighter, sobbing as she felt some of the shinranshin weaken as control of her own muscles returned to her she pulled the wire tighter and tigher around his throat, Tsuyoshi clawing at it, his body sinking to the floor as Yoshino bent, following it down to the ground.

Tsuyoshi was kicking and managed to knock over the night table by the bed. The table and the books on it skittered to the ground.

"Shut up you bastard, just die already," Yoshino hissed, pulling the wire tighter yet. Tsuyoshi's kicks were weakening.

"Yoshino! Yoshino! Is that you?" Unbelievably she heard Shikaku's voice calling her.

Kneeling on the ground over Tsuyoshi's body, afraid to let go of the wire she called out, "I'm in here, Shikaku."

Flinging the door open, Shikaku rushed in and stood there dumbfounded. "Yoshino! Are you okay? Is that…what the FUCK…is that Inoichi? Did you…did you kill Inoichi?"

Yoshino knelt on the ground and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Pulling the wire away from his throat she motioned for Shikaku to look again at the man whose face was returning to its own features. She tugged awkwardly at the top of her dress, pulling it back up to cover herself.

She felt strong hands, under her shoulders, tugging her gently to her feet. After wanting to resist Tsuyoshi for so long but being betrayed by her own muscles she couldn't believe how good it felt to just give in to him, to let him tug her to him like a rag doll and rest limp against his chest, feeling his hands rubbing soothing circles on shoulders, on the small of her back.

A stab of fear gripped her. What if this wasn't…what if this wasn't Shikaku? What would he be doing here, anyway?

"Shikaku," she hadn't been going to cry, had been proud of herself for holding it in, but this was just too much. "Shikaku is it really you? Tell me something so I know that it's really you."

"Shh, shhh," he murmured against her, "It's really me." He paused, trying to think of something he could tell her so that she would know it was him. "The first time," he whispered, "the first time I took you to the deer meadow, you fell asleep on my chest. When we woke up the deer were coming out. We saw a buck, five does and two fawns."

At that point the dam broke and she sobbed againt him like a baby, like a candy-assed village girl.

After a few moments of shushing and holding, Yoshino began to collect herself and realization dawned on her. "Shikaku, I've…I've killed a fellow shinobi. A leaf village ninja. What am I going to do?"

Before he could answer, the balcony was graced with three ninja and a boy. "What the fuck scared the shit out of you, Shikaku!" Inoichi demanded, coming in off the balcony, Kakashi in tow. "I could feel it a mile away."

Neither he nor Shikaku were prepared for Yoshino to fling herself into Inoichi's arms and saying, "I thought it was you, Inoichi. I'm so sorry, I thought it was you."

"The hell?" Inoichi asked, looking perplexedly at Shikaku. "Not that I don't mind of course, Yoshino, but what did I do to deserve this?"

"Probably has something to do with the body," Jiraiya motioned to the corpse on the floor.

"Cool. You didn't tell me we were going to kill people, Inoichi," Kakashi blurted out, beaming at his Shinobi-senpai with new found respect. "I thought I was going to be stuck in those bookstores with you and Jiraiya forever."

"WE didn't kill anybody," Inoichi waved dismissively at him, "Yoshino did. Don't tell your teachers I took you to the beach and somebody got killed. I'm not supposed to let that happen."

"That girl did?" Kakashi asked.

"Don't call me girl," Yoshino snapped. "Inoichi, who is he, why do you have a kid with you?"

Inoichi shrugged. "Hatake Kakashi. Ninja Academy student. Long story."

"Hatake?" Yoshino's eyes opened wider. Kakashi stepped back a little behind Inoichi.

Kakashi quickly looked up at Jiraiya and said in a suck-up voice, "Jiraiya-sama, you're in charge here. What do we do now?"

Yoshino was on her knees in front of him, one of her hairsticks pointed up under his chin in a flash. "Oh no, you little snot. I'm in charge here. Even if a senior shinobi joins a team, until the person with most situational awareness has briefed them and acknowledged their command, they are not "in charge." If you want to be a ninja you better learn the rules. Now I've got one nerve left after tonight and I suggest you don't get on it."

Shikaku was tugging her back up again. "Yoshino, he's just a kid."

"Hah! I used to babysit him. He's a holy terror. You know what you did, don't you, kid?"

Eyes wide, Kakashi nodded.

Yoshino's grin was wicked, "Now, do you want me to tell all the fine young shinobi what I did to get back at you…."

"No," Kakashi spoke up weakly. "No ma'am. That won't be necessary." He tugged on Inoichi's hand. The older boy leaned down to hear him whisper, "Inoichi, don't fuck with the babysitter."

Yoshino turned her attention to Jiraiya and filled him and the rest of them in on the situation.

Inoichi walked over to the corpse and nudged it with his toe. He whispered hoarsely, "Shinranshin no jutsu" as if he just couldn't believe anybody would do such a thing. Then he added "Fucker was using my face. Yoshino, I like a pretty girl as much as the next guy. But, I'm not a frickin' rapist."

Yoshino hugged him again. "I know, Inoichi. I know."

She faced Jiraiya. "Sir, I think I should turn myself in to you. I…I think I've…committed a crime."

Jiraiya studied her with his arms folded over his chest. "As I see it, you were assaulted by a missing-nin. Looks like self-defense to me."

"Missing-nin? But Jiraiya-sama, he was just on duty, at his post, right before he came up here."

"Yes, and the minute he put you under shinranshin no jutsu, he became a missing nin. I agree with Inoichi the creep was a frickin' rapist."

"So what do we do now?"

"Okay, Yoshino, I need for you to finish your shift tonight. You're already late I think. But I'm guessing that Tsuyoshi was supposed to be the one up here on break so no one's come up here looking for him yet. Get yourself straightened back out, put your hair back up and go down and act as if nothing has happened. As a matter of fact as far as you know nothing has happened. I'm going to pull you off Mugato's team at midnight. I can trump him on this mission and it will be fun to watch his face when I do."

"Yes, sir," Yoshino acknowledged, smoothing her dress and gathering her hair back up.

"Shikaku, Chouza you two get the body. " Jiraiya instructed. As they started to pick up the corpse a small object rolled from one of his pockets. Jiraiya picked it up. It was a syringe filled with a clear liquid. "Rape may not have been the only thing he was planning," he said as he sealed it in a scroll to take to Tsunade for analysis later.

Turning to the little boy he added "Come on Kakashi, we'll show you where the bodies are buried."

"Cool! Awesome!" the white-haired wanna-be ninja said, beaming with pride.

"Can we trust you to keep some mighty big secrets?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

"Yes, sir!" Kakashi avowed.

As she watched them slip into the night, she heard Kakashi's voice, "Being a ninja is the awesomest thing ever!"


	20. Orochimaru Fills In The Gaps

**Chapter 20: Orochimaru Fills In The Gaps**

True to his word, at midnight, Jiraiya crashed the party, greeting the daiymo enthusiastically and annoying Mugato by informing him that his team was going to be down a man due to Tsunade's need to reassign Yoshino to her own project starting now. Yoshino had found it somewhat amusing to watch how Mugato spluttered around Jiraiya, not because she was deluding herself into thinking that Uchiha-san had ever considered her skills of any use whatsoever, but just because he was bothered to have his authority superceded in this way.

She and Jiraiya stopped by the encampment to collect and repack her gear then they headed for the inn where the rest of the guys were waiting. There was an awkward moment when they all realized that they only had two rooms and the inn was full. Originally the four boys had slept two to a bed in one room and Jiraiya had the second room to himself. He solved the sleeping arrangements for them by assigning Chouza, Inoichi and Kakashi to one room; Shikaku and Yoshino to the second bed in his room. Just before he turned off the light he'd smiled at her and said, "Don't worry, I'll chaperone."

Yoshino lay awake for the longest time in the darkness, Shikaku spooned up behind her, one arm draped across her waist breathing softly. With Shikaku warm against her back, studying Jiraiya's silhouette in the moonlight, idly she wondered if he'd staged it that way on purpose, if somehow he were trying to let her know she was safe without actually saying anything about. And it did feel…safe.

But thoughts of 'safe' dredged up memories of earlier in the evening. Memories of how, even though she'd actually beaten Tsuyoshi, turned his own jutsu against him and by all rights should be proud of that feat if nothing else, still she'd cried like a child when it was over. She thought about that long and hard in the moonlight. What kind of a ninja was she? Then she remembered that the only person who'd seen her cry was Shikaku. And somehow that was …okay.

Sighing, having figured it out at least a little bit, she turned toward him, feeling his arm slide along her waist as she turned. Tucking her head under his chin, resting against his chest, she draped her own arm across his and slowly fell asleep.

The next day, Yoshino learned that they had not actually buried the body. Instead Jiraiya had it sealed in a hidden location in the forest outside the city. Collecting the sealing container, they carried it back to Konoha in teams.

Upon their return, to their surprise, Jiraiya took them straight to visit Orochimaru.

The snake sannin's compound turned out to be a research lab not unlike Tsunade's, Shikaku observed – except for the bodies. The place was like a morgue, several draped bodies on gurnies and one undraped cadaver that was obviously part way through an autopsy. Orochimaru looked up at the group and frowned.

"Jiraiya? What's the meaning of this?" he asked softly, motioning at the group standing with the white-haired man.

"Just wanted to see how things went in Amegakure," Jiraiya answered as he and Chouza lifted the container onto an empty gurney. "And besides, I brought you a souvenir from the beach."

Orochimaru scowled. "Dare I open it here? In front of these young people?"

"It's a dead body," Kakashi volunteered proudly. Inoichi groaned, thinking maybe they should have stopped at the Academy first so that he could confess to being unable to be senpai-for-a-week.

"And you are?" Orochimaru asked haughtily, looking down at the little boy.

"Kakashi Hatake," he answered.

"Yes, well, hold your tongue," Orochimaru said, picking up a pair of hemostats and returning his attention to the cadaver in front of him, "Or I'll hold it for you."

Kakashi felt a grip that seemed like the talons of a baza hawk biting into his shoulder. He looked up and saw Yoshino glaring down at him. Pale, he stepped back between her and Inoichi.

Jiraiya released the seal, displaying the body that had been its contents. "It _is _a body."

Orochimaru looked over at the second table and paused, taking in the man's attire and hitae-ate. "Jiraiya, this man…this man is a leaf shinobi?"

Jiraiya reached over and made a scratch through the leaf symbol with chakra. Nonplussed he corrected his friend, "Missing-nin." He smiled slyly and added, "Check his eyes."

Leaving the hemostats embedded in the first body, Orochimaru dried his hands on a towel and walked over to the newly arrived one. Flicking his gaze up once at Jiraiya in hesitation, he then looked down and opened one eyelid. "Jiraiya?" he whispered. Checking the second eye, he added, "Jiraiya, this man is Uchiha. What the hell is this about?"

Smiling over his pipe which he had taken out while Orochimaru was occupied with the latest addition to his morgue, Jiraiya just sat there, smoke wafting skyward. "Like I said, a souvenir from the beach. The guy's a missing-nin – I sent the paperwork by a summons to Koharu last night."

"What am I supposed to do with it?" Orochimaru glared at him.

"Our tracker-nins return the bodies of any non-Konoha leaf shinobi they discover to you, don't they? And your current assignment is to autopsy them to discover what you can about any jutsu or kekkei genkai that may be unique to them, correct? So, here's a missing nin for you."

"Yes, but, they destroy the bodies of Konoha's missing ninjas," Orochimaru insisted. "They don't bring those to me."

"Oooops," Jiraiya just grinned. "But then again, it_ is _your mission to autopsy the bodies of _any_ missing nin brought to you, correct? Paperkwork doesn't say that they have to be brought in by tracker nin, now, does it?"

"Yes-sss," Orochimaru hissed out a response, then looked up at Jiraiay, eyes glittering, lopsided smile, "I always did know you loved me best. Somebody is going to be supremely pissed about this, aren't they?"

"Konoha's Military Police Force can kiss my ass", Jiraiya said, "Come on gang, let's go, we've got some reassigning to do." And with that he shooed all his little chickens out the door.

"Oh, and Jiraiya," Orochimaru's voice stopped him at the door, "Things in Amegakure went as you expected."

Jiraiya just nodded.

Orochimaru's compound was a good distance from the village center, in a wooded glen just outside of town. On the way back into town, Jiraiya had them all stop. He sat on a large flat stone overlooking the group seated in front of him. "So," he asked, "everybody still in?"

"In? Yes, you knew that when we left for the weekend, but what happens now?" Chouza asked."How can you just say he's a missing nin and get away with it? And what does that have to do with anything?"

Jiraiya, pipe relit and smoking, thinking carefully before responding finally answered, "I have a lady friend in Wave who will testify to the attempted rape last night. She's already filed a police report for me."

He looked at their shocked faces. "Don't worry – we aren't alleging anything that did _not_ happen, we're just keeping Yoshino's name out of it. Although, Mugato probably does have an idea of what really happened, with my friend's police report he won't really be able to argue too strongly. And she's got just enough details in there alluding to use of shinranshin that he won't _want_ to argue to strongly. So he'll cut his losses on that one. "

"Now, _we _are going to step on some toes, that is if you are with me?"

The four teens nodded. Kakashi would have nodded but he was nodding off instead. They'd made double time back from Wave this morning and the kid was utterly exhausted. Yoshino sighed and pulled him over to her, laying his head in her lap so that he didn't hit the ground face first as he fell asleep.

Jiraiya chuckled, "Okay, first thing is Inoichi – you have got to keep little Hatake with you at all times. I know you've got him through the week. Watch him like a hawk, I know the kid means well, but we can't take a chance that he'll blab to his playmates or his family. You are off the mission board for the rest of the week, fulfilling your community service. Hang around the village, be reachable in case I need to get a hold of you."

"Shikaku, you stay staffed to Tsunade. Yoshino, you're with Koharu – she knows everything that went on last night, knows where we are right now, she'll be expecting you. You take your assignments from her, we'll get you staffed properly and the paperwork filled out when we get back down to see Morino. Chouza you're with Morino. He'll take you on for staffing allotment planning."

Inoichi hoisted Kakashi onto his shoulder grumbling about babysitting as he left back down to put the kid down for a nap in their apartment.

Yoshino and Shikaku said a hasty goodbye and Shikaku watched as she and the rest of the group went back down to the missions room. Shaking his head, feeling that he still wasn't getting everything he turned and headed back down to the lab, expecting to find Tsunade in the anteroom tapping her foot impatiently at his inordinate lateness, angry that she couldn't get in without his key. Since Orochimaru was back, he thought she would be too. To his surprise, she was nowhere near the lab area. He searched around the village but to no avail. She appeared not to have come back from Amegekure yet.

Which left Shikaku with some time on his hands. He mulled it over then decided to go ask a few questions of the one person who might be able to fill in the pieces he was missing.

Knocking at the front door, Shikaku stood outside wondering if the snake sannin would even open his own front door. After a few moments, he did. Orochimaru stood looking at him and whispered, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Tsunade's little boy." He paused then smirked his lopsided grin and added, "Or should I say Jiraiya's?"

Shikaku cleared his throat. "Um….I was hoping you could help me with the answer to that question myself. You see, I don't understand why there is a difference. Why do they seem to be working on the same problem and yet at cross-purposes. Aren't you all a…"

Orochimaru finished the question for him. "A team? Aren't we all a _team_? A very good question."

Standing there in Orochimaru's doorway, Shikaku felt he could wither under that gaze. Whatever it was about the man that seemed almost but not quite normal when he was together with Jiraiya was gone now. The air itself seemed chilled.

Orochimaru opened the door a little wider, motioning him in. "A question worth answering."

He motioned him on back to the morgue. "Do you mind if I continue working while I answer your _questions,_ young man?"

"What's going on?" Shikaku blurted out.

"Well, that's a little vague, don't you think? Going on where? Going on between whom? Can't you be a little more specific?"

"Here…this…," Shikaku floundered, motioning around the lab, pointing at Tsuyoshi's body which now had several layers of skin peeled back along the abdomen.

"This is my job. This is the mission I've been assigned by our village, to investigate all missing-nin for whatever we can learn about their bodies, their jutsus, their kekkei genkai. Now, is there anything else?"

Shikaku looked around in exasperation. "Do you mind if I smoke?" He didn't smoke cigarettes often, but sometimes he found that the act could help him focus his thoughts.

Bent back over the corpose in front of him, Orochimaru muttered, "If you insist on shortening your life like that baka teammate of mine then by all means indulge. Any other questions?"

Shikaku took a long drag from the cigarette and blew the smoke skyward. What had the man said upon granting him entry? Oh yes.

"Let's start with the one _you_ said was a question worth answering. Aren't you all a team?"

Placing his tools on the metal tray beside him with a soft 'clink' Orochimaru leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his shoulders "Since before you were born."

"And yet you're arguing over this?"

"Disagreements about how best to carry out an assignment, good natured ribbing among teammates. Surely you do the same with your own team?"

Shikaku thought. Maybe the banter the first night was good natured ribbing. But what had happened between Jiraiya and Tsunade the night he had followed them had been on an entirely different scale. He had honestly thought they would come to blows, that Tsunade was going to hit him. He said so.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed to slits, his smile broadening. "Well, little Nara-chan. You followed the two of them and neither one of them knew about it? I _am_ impressed. Maybe Tsunade does see something worthwhile in you after all."

Shit! He hadn't meant to let that slip. Well, the cat was out of the bag now. Shikaku tried to be as specific as possible in his latest question but before he could formulate it, Orochimaru started speaking.

"Tell me, it's been ten years now, what do you know about Heat Devil village?"

Shikaku shrugged, "The Battle of Heat Devil village, of course I know about it. I was a genin then, most of us were left here for internal defense. But I know about it. Why?"

"It should more properly be called a the Heat Devil Massacre. We laid waste to the village. Every man, woman, child, shinobi or civilian. We had orders to take them all out and we did. That …changed Jiraiya and Tsunade somehow, and Minato, too. He was a chunin, then, he was in that battle. I don't know if it was the battle itself, or watching Minato be so _efficient_ in it. Absolutely angelic and efficient. Whatever the reason, after that battle, Jiraiya left, he went back to Myoukobu Mountain and remained there for a year or so."

"Tsunade was affected greatly, too. Everything was happening so fast, she seemed to be called everywhere at once. At some point it just finally dawned on her that she was patching up shinobi as fast as she could just so that they could get back in the battle before the other side's did. Of course that had been her forte for a long time now, but watching them return to battle after it had long since stopped being a battle and turned into an extermination, well, again, it affected her profoundly."

Shikaku took another long draw on his cigarette and asked, "And you?"

"Me? I was just following orders," Orochimaru replied in a whisper as chilly as the room.

Orochimaru continued, "After Heat Devil, in Jiraiya's absence, Hanzou came to power, and everyone knew that a major battle was inevitable. Sarutobi sent word to Myoukobu pleading with Jiraiya to return for the sake of the _village_. Reluctantly he agreed. And we all _knew_ how reluctant he was, but Sarutobi, instead of leaving Tsunade with the medic-nin, very shrewdly put the three of us back together as a fighting unit, Tsunade was relieved of her medical responsibilities and we three were finally able to fight side by side once again. It was… I don't have a word for it. Joyous? Glorious? To see Tsunade fighting again. To see what she is capable of on the battlefield. It's really quite awe-inspiring. Were you there?"

Shikaku shook his head and Orochimaru asked him a question, "But you do know that's where we received our title, don't you? The _Legendary _Sannin?"

Nodding, Shikaku heard Orochimaru's laugh followed by his next question, "And what do you know of Hanzou?"

"A butcher. A warlord bent on destroying our way of life And the three of you defeated him."

"Interesting," Orochimaru mulled this over in his mind. "Thus earning our title of the 'Legendary' Sannin?"

Shikaku nodded.

"Well, again, interesting how they spin it. You know that it took all three of us to hold him off. I don't think we could have defeated him. Nonetheless, he saw that even if he won against us, his side was losing the war. And so, he called for a truce. Of course a condition of that was our accepting the title 'Legendary' as a parting shot that we were no such thing. The three of us could just barely stand against him, much less defeat him. Whereas he could have defintely overcome us. And the key to that was he realized we were each other's weakness. He could have defeated the three of us if he had just managed to kill any one of us."

Orochimaru continued, "Jiraiya was overcome by the man's honor. As you know he stayed in a Rain village for some time, tending to three orphans. Tsunade chose to atone for her perceived past transgressions by devoting herself entirely to medicine."

"And you?"

"Me?" Elegant eyebrow arched skyward. "I saw nothing to atone for. I was just …following orders."

Shikaku shifted uneasily. He hadn't really come for a history lesson, just wanted to know what the hell was going on in Amegekure. He asked.

"Patience, little Nara-chan, you have to understand our background to appreciate the situation we find ourselves in. You see, there's a power struggle going on within the very city gates of Konoha. Sarutobi nears fifty. Who will the council select as his replacement as Hokage?"

"I find myself in an untenable situation. I have been so _good_ at following orders, so _very good_ you see, I just wasn't very adept at being sure to be assigned orders that could openly be acknowledged." He motioned to his lab. "The council would never support me. Sometimes, I wonder if my old sensei even supports me in private at those meetings," he added with a touch of bitterness.

"Tsunade would be an ideal candidate, the only jounin who could possibly match her in battle are Jiraiya and myself. And her work has an undeniable public appeal. Unfortunately, she is a woman and there are simply not enough votes on the council to support that."

Shikaku grew impatient. What the fuck did any of this have to do with a bunch of pills?

Orochimaru cut off his complaint with a raised hand. "And Jiraiya would have nothing to do with it. Heat Devils was bad enough. But coming back to Konoha after several years in Rain and hearing how Hanzou, a man he respected and admired and who quite frankly spared our lives, was vilified, was just too much. He flaunts his hitae-ate from Mount Myoukobo and takes every opportunity to tarnish the reputation of "legendary" sannin that PR and spinmeisters in Konoho have tried so hard to polish, women, drinking, gambling, you name it. So, who to succeed Sarutobi? The old man already has his eye on a new choice, Minato. He's about your age, isn't he?"

Shikaku nodded. Sure, Minato was hot shit, but Hokage? He'd have to mull that one over some, later. The Hokage ought to be someone you looked up to, not someone you'd gotten shit-faced drunk with.

"This infuriates Jiraiya. He's tried to talk to Minato to dissuade him. Sarutobi has sent him on an extended trade mission to prevent Jiraiya from interfering. Jiraiya refers to this as "blowing so much smoke up his ass he thinks he can breathe fire." Of course he _can_ breathe fire, as can Jiraiya, but I'm sure you appreciate the metaphor."

"I have no heir-apparent, but Tsunade proffers he own choice. A fellow medic-nin, her lover Dan."

"And so the two of them, they're fighting over the succession to Hokage?" Shikaku asked. "If Jiraiya doesn't want Minato installed, why does he care if Dan is chosen or not?"

Orochimaru gave a small cold laugh. "Well, for one thing, Dan is a jounin but just barely. If you were to ask me his title ought to be Tokubetsuu Jounin of Paperwork and Bureaucracy. Dan is supremely _unqualified_ in terms of mastery of jutsu to be Hokage. But Tsunade doesn't see that, she sees a new era of peace if we have a less warlike Hokage in place."

"Jiraiya doesn't particularly care about the Hokage-ship but what he does care about is Tsunade. Even though he's been in love with her since we were children, he's made a point to not interfere between her and Dan. Until recently."

"What happened recently?"

"What you have to understand is that Tsunade is a warrior. She doesn't want to admit it, doesn't want to acknowledge that part of herself any longer, but the fact remains she is a fighter, perhaps the strongest one of all three of us. Jiraiya brings that out in her. They…enhance each other in a way that is undeniable. She says she loves Dan but in fact she's chosen the one person in Konoha who is the most opposite of Jiraiya that it is possible to imagine. It's almost as if she's trying to escape the inevitable."

Shikaku wanted to rush the older man to make his point, but there seemed to be something so…poignant in what he was saying.

"Haven't you noticed how haggard she is? Don't you wonder how it must make her feel to be assigned not to work on a cure for those already addicted to this drug but rather on removing the addictive properties from it – so that we can utilize its 'good' effects safely? Weaponize it? Tsunade thought she'd gotten away from the battlefield but all she's doing is working on more creative ways to kill people."

Shikaku dared to ask, "Are you…are you in love with her, too?"

"How can you not be? Oh, not in the way Jiraiya is, of course, but if I had a sister, I imagine this is how it would feel."

Orochimaru continued, "Tsunade was working quite satisfied in pure medicine. Then this came up. And _miraculously _the grants came through, the lab was co-opted for her use and she's effectively working on a battle field again despite her best efforts to leave it alone for good. Jiraiya became curious and his research turned up something very unpleasant. So much so that he asked me to go with him to approach her about it."

"What did it turn up?"

"Tell me, have you ever heard of Medics-Without-Borders?"

"Sure, it's a humanitarian aid group, Tsunade was instrumental in founding it a few years ago."

"Hmmm, yes, as was Dan. Do you know where the pills originate?"

"Rain? Amegekure?"

"Right again. And tell me little Nara-chan, I've read your records so I know you're a smart boy, do you know who the current liason between Konoha and Amegekure is?"

Shikaku blinked. It couldn't be. "Dan?"

Orochimaru nodded. "Tsunade is being used."

Shikaku stood there silently, trying to take it all in. It was overwhelming, actually, to acknowledge that your heroes had feet of fucking clay.

_**A/N:** RE: Timeline – I think I'm on safe ground with Kakashi's age here – Ino-Shika-Cho Sr. seems to be listed consistently as about 14 years older than Kakashi. So this would make him about 5. If he graduated the Academy at 5 then I wanted him still in school, not yet on a genin team.  
_

_Re: Hanzou / Heat Devils / Dan – I think Heat Devils was about 30 years before start of series so it would be about 10 years prior to my fic (but it's a filler anime episode anyway, so I figure I can be liberal with respect to it in the timeline.) One thing is for sure, young Jiraiya (swoon!) is shown leading a charge in that battle. _

_Hanzou and Dan are a little trickier. I think Hanzou is about 25 years before start of series, so it would have been 5 years previous to my story. Jiraiya would have been with the orphans for a while then back to Konoha. I don't know when Dan died, but clearly by implication throughout this whole story, since Tsunade is still IN Konoha, Dan hasn't died. _


	21. Dirty Laundry

**Chapter 21: Dirty Laundry**

Tsunade sat in the lab rubbing both eyes with the heels of her hands. As if she didn't have enough work to do already, Shikaku had brought in something, Kami knew what, in that syringe saying that Jiraiya had found it on the missing nin's body. The missing _Uchiha's_ body, she corrected herself.

Stupid toad sage didn't even have the courage to bring it to her himself. Humph!

But still, the contents of it had turned out to be disturbing enough, regardless of who had brought them to her. A fast-acting virus, variant of a very common childhood illness among most of the shinobi nations. And since it shared many of the same characteristics then the implication was that a large portion of the population would be suscepticble.

Most troubling of all perhaps was the syringe itself. It was the three pronged variety favored by ANBU for delivering their knock-out drugs, and just like the little cocktail that they used routinely, this syringe too was actually multi-compartmented, filled with two solutions. One contained the virus which was inert unless delivered with the activator contained in the second. So, the virus in and of itself was relatively harmless only in combination with the other chemical did it pose a problem.

She shook her head. And in the last week, they'd been working on just how bad of a problem that might be. By fast acting, she was coming to realize that it was frighteningly fast, test animals had succumbed to fever in a matter of hours. And there was something nagging in the back of her mind about that. Something that Shikaku had said earlier but she was too tired to really put her finger on it.

She looked at him, he was actually a very reliable worker once you ever got him kickstarted. Diligent. Dependable. It was good to have him here. Still, she really wished that Dan was in Konoha with her. Two days with him in Amegekure last week had just been too short of a time. And it hadn't been the purely enjoyable time with him that it should have been, damn Jiraiya to hell. Why did he have to be so jealous? Why had he planted those doubts in her mind? Of course the sneaking truth behind the matter was that she was feeling more than a little bit guilty because deny it though she might to herself, she couldn't escape the fact that one reason she had gone to Amegekure was to reassure herself that it was impossible. And she hated herself for that. She shouldn't have needed to reassure herself in the first place, should have just dismissed Jiraiya's outrageous theories out of hand.

And then this turned up. This three-pronged syringe with its multiple compartments. Developed by Dan several years ago. Of course, that could be purely coincidence. It was a wonderfully handy medical device, in regular use by ANBU and field-medics alike for dispensing a variety of medicines. The fact that the dead man had it one him probably meant nothing at all. Of course, it meant nothing at all.

"Shikaku, what was it you were telling me a few days ago? Something about someone with a fever?"

"Hmmm? Oh, it was one of Yoshino's teammates, Asako Miterashi. She came down with something while they were on their mission." He paused and looked up at her. "Do you think it's related?"

Tsunade was chewing on her thumbnail again. "Probably not," she said trying to sound dismissive.

"But it occurred in the same city that the syringe is from."

Sighing, Tsunade said wanly, "I really wish you hadn't told me that. We should at least check it out."

She sent Shikaku to check for any records from the morgue about Miterashi, to see if there had been any post-mortem workup done on her. Meanwhile, Tsunade went to make arrangements to have the body exhumed.

Up in the Hokage tower, Yoshino had been kept busy all week by Koharu, quietly gathering records from a variety of sources. It had seemed all very boring at first, and Yoshino was sure that Jiraiya had just stashed her there, effectively making Koharu her own babysitter. Yoshino grumbled to herself, although she'd appreciated the comfort and concern the first night, it now seemed cloying and unnecessary.

But as she continued to work with Koharu, on what the older woman euphemistically referred to as 'forensic accounting' she realized that the job was in its own way, challenging and satisfying. It was like trying to make a picture out of the numbers in front of you. Individually they might mean nothing, like individual tiles before you began a mosaic. But put them together, graph them, cluster them and they came alive and told a story.

It was a story of the ebb and flow of money into and between ANBU and the Konoha Military Police Force (and for the first time in her life, Yoshino had to honestly question why her _village_ maintained a _military_ police force – what the heck was up with that anyway?) and the Uchiha clan.

The tasks she was sent out on seemed menial at first, and she actually dared to grouse about it once. As soon as the words left her mouth, she would have done just about anything to take them back. Had she actually snapped at one of the council members? She winced, waiting for whatever Koharu would yell or do next.

Koharu just looked up over her tea and asked, "Were you followed?"

Yoshino had to think for a minute. Perhaps there was someone who seemed to be coincidentally running the same errands. She wasn't she, she hadn't been expecting it so she honestly was ashamed to say she hadn't paid that much attention. "I…I think I may have been. Yes." She stammered out an answer.

"Good." And Koharu bent back to studying the document in front of her.

Yoshino stood there blinking for a few minutes. Oh. She was supposed to be followed? She thought about that for a minute. Koharu wanted somebody to follow her to pick up the dry cleaning or return an overdue library book? A…gopher? A fetch-and-carry girl? Why would she want someone to follow her doing that?

So that whoever was following her would realize after a couple of days that she was just Koharu's new fetch-and-carry girl. And would quit following her. Or at least not so closely. As long as what she did was innocuous, they, whoever they were, wouldn't care.

After a couple of days, the tasks remained similar but now there were little notes to go along with it. A withdrawal at the bank and a note to palm over to the teller. The envelope would then be passed back with requested cash and extra notes folded up inside. Pick up a few library books that had been requested and she would walk out with those and a few more that weren't technically checked out to anyone's account. She played her part well, quietly deferential to anyone she might meet, merely Koharu's aide no need to pay her any mind at all. She even started wearing her hair up like Koharu's on a regular basis trying to look the part of an ideal aide-de-camp.

The end of the week came and she was to meet Shikaku for dinner. As usual he was late, but fortunately Tsunade must have taken pity on him because it wasn't too bad. She was so glad to see him – they'd had very little time together this week, really only on Monday when they'd had lunch together and she'd grumbled about the gopher-chores she was having to do.

Yoshino wanted to tell him everything she was doing, how interesting it was turning out to be, how that there were patterns there if you would just look for them. Shikaku just kept shushing her. After the third or so time, she snapped out "What is wrong with you?"

"Well, shit, Yoshino, you know you just can't talk about it in here!" He motioned around at the restaurant.

"No," she hissed back. "I mean what's wrong with _you_? You look like shit."

He was a bit taken aback. Not that he hadn't heard her talk like that before. She could. She did, infrequently but she did. It's just that she usually didn't direct it at him. And he knew she was right, he probably did look like shit, hadn't slept hardly any this week.

And not just because of Tsunade and her insane schedule.

No, it was more than that. Tsunade actually hadn't even worked him as hard this week as the previous ones. Nope, this had all started when they found that syringe. Something about it just kept gnawing at him, gnawing at the pit of his stomach. It was an abyss yawning in front of him and it had only grown wider when Tsunade had completed the results of her autopsy on Asako. The woman had been infected, the three puncture wounds were quite evident if you looked for them, it's just that no one had had a reason to before.

That meant only one thing.

Tsuyoshi had been going to kill Yoshino.

"Come on," he said, rising from the table, "Let's get out of here. Let's go to the apartment where we can talk. I'll fill you in on what's going on. Even if Inoichi and Chouza are there, Kakashi will be asleep by now and I can tell you all about it."

Arm in arm they walked through the streets of Konoha, footfalls soft on the cobblestones. Halfway there, he stopped and said, "Yoshino, I need to tell you…You're right… I mean what I'm trying to say is…I guess I do look like shit. And I think it's because Tsuyoshi wasn't just going to…

At this point he floundered. What word could he use here? "He wasn't just going to _hurt_ you…I think he was going to kill you. And," he took a deep breath. "And I think I love you."

There. He'd said it. The _L-word_. He was a ninja, a jounin, and he really shouldn't be afraid but still he was worried – how was she going to respond?

She stood there smirking at him in the moonlight, eyes sparkling. "Soooooo…you look like shit because you think you love me? Gee, Nara , that has got to be about the single most un-romantic thing I have ever heard." And even though she didn't say it with words her smile said that she loved him, too.

"Shut up, you wench," he sighed, pulling her to him and kissing her for all he was worth.


	22. Take My Breath Away

**Chapter 22: Take My Breath Away**

Yoshino and Shikaku made their way back to his apartment, Shikaku fumbling with his keys as he had that night that seemed ages ago. This time, when the door clicked open, they didn't even make it to the couch. As the door closed behind them, Yoshino was pulling him to her, as he crowded both their bodies against the wall in the entryway.

Pressed between his body and the wall, Yoshino's pulse was thrumming in her veins. He loved her. He actually did love her. She'd known for some time know that's how she felt about him, but just hadn't articulated it yet. Pulling away just a little from his kiss, hands held flat against his chest, she whispered, "Shikaku, I …I think I love you, too."

Kisses on her eyes, the top of her head, then hot against her ear, where his voice rumbled in her ear in a low octave that thrilled down her spine, "I do love you, Yoshino." Nibbles on her ear, lightly grazing along her neck, beard scratching wonderfully rough at the tender skin on the side of her throat. Then kissing along her shoulder, tendrils of her hair slipping down tickling at his face until he kissed the back of her neck near her spine and her knees just shut off, just turned to jelly.

Swaying into him, her legs may have refused to work, but her arms still did. Hands were on his forearms, skating up and tracing his biceps on up to his shoulders, she circled her arms at the back of his head and pulled herself up against him as he raised his face to hers from where he had trailed kisses across to her other shoulder. He covered her mouth with his own, hot and insistent, his tongue demanding, kissing, claiming, taking what he wanted and what she so willingly yielded.

Both of them breathless, they paused, his forehead resting against hers. In the darkness of the room, she felt him smile, one hand cupping her cheek, the other raised to her hair.

"I don't have any idea how these damn things work," he whispered huskily against her as he tugged both her hairsticks out with a single jerk, her dark hair cascading down around his hands, her shoulders, "but I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

Both hands on her shoulders now, he skimmed one down her body, over the swell of her breast, down to her waist, slipping around behind her and cinching her hips close to his own, other hand closing around a fistful of her black tresses, tugging firmly, urging her to arch her head back so that he could kiss down her throat along her collarbone, down her chest as far as her blouse would allow.

Sable lips and scratchy chin back up to her other ear, he whispered, "We could at least go sit down," one hand on her hip, turning her toward the living room where the couch was.

Yoshino hesitated. "No, I .. I don't want…"

Shikaku sighed. He understood. It had been less than a week ago since she'd almost been… And plus he'd known all along now that Yoshino wasn't your average twenty-something friskier kunoichi, usually warm and willing for a little apres-mission hook-up. He could wait. "It's okay, we don't have to do anything you don't want to do," he said trying to sound reassuring rather than frustrated. Understanding but frustrated nonetheless. Gentle pressure on her hip, starting to turn them toward the living room again.

"No," she replied softly, looking away unable to meet his gaze, "I…I don't want to go to the living room. I want to go to your room."

She looked up at him and her eyes were the same as the first night they kissed, two dark pools and he'd be damned but he was going to drown in them. Kissing her once again, his hands on either side of her face, her hair spilling down around them, he was sure that Yoshino was the ocean and he was going to drown in _her_. And nothing else mattered.

"Yoshino, you should wait. It's only been a w…"

"Only you," she cut him off, knowing full well what he was going to say. As if Tsuyoshi, the bastard, had anything to do with this. With her, with Shikaku, with what she felt toward Shikaku. Her hands cupping his face now, drawing herself up against him, feeling his body pressed against hers, along the length of hers, she whispered, "I only want it to be you."

All-consuming kiss now and she felt him bend, one arm at her back, one behind her legs scooping her up and carrying her down the hall. He let her drift from his arms, holding her at her hips as she steadied on her feet for a moment, feeling his bed brush the back of her legs.

Arms at his shoulders she brushed back his outer vest first, then his jounin vest, they each settled to the floor with a soft sound. Yoshino stood with her hands on the fishnet shirt at his chest, fingers plucking gently at the net, feeling the warm skin between the strips of fabric. Delicately, she traced the outlines of his muscles through the shirt with her fingertips, the tugging the shirt up from where it was tucked into his pants, she reached her hands up under it, savoring the feel of nothing but his skin beneath her hands. Shikaku jerked the shirt up and off to land in the floor with his vests.

With his hands on her shoulders, Shikaku slid the blue silk haori she was wearing off where it puddled in the floor like liquid. Kissing her softly and sweetly he tugged at the knot of her obi, slipping it undone and dispening with it as well. Warm hands beneath her tunic, gliding up to gently cup her breasts, unclicking the little clasp of her bra between them. He straightened and lifting the hem of her tunic he pulled it off of her, fingers returning to pull gently at the shoulder straps of her bra, sliding it off her arms.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered to her, pulling her up against him , the heat from his chest burning her up, consuming her. Yoshino couldn't imagine a feeling as wonderful as this, her bare skin up against his, her breasts pressed flat against his chest in his embrace.

Roughened fingers plucked at the waistband of her pants, meeting in the front to undow the drawstring and slide them down her legs as she stepped out of them. He skimmed his hands back up calves and thighs and over her hips as he stood again and repeated, "You are so beautiful."

Yoshino thought she would melt under his gaze. Hands on his shoulders, she sank toward the bed, Shikaku following. He knelt above her, one knee between her thighs. Her hair was fanned out around her, framing her face against the white of his pillow. Unable to bear just his gaze on her any longer, but yearning for his hands and his lips and his body against, she reached up, drawing him down to her.

"Shikaku," breathy whisper as her breathing was very rapid now, "Shikaku, I want you so much, I need you."

She whimpered in delight as his lips touched her at her cheek, her throat, shoulders and chest, one large palm covering her breast, heat from his hand causing her to gasp out loud and moan his name.

To hear his name from her like that, so heavy with desire, nearly drove him insane. He moved his hand aside, kissing the underside of her breast and trailing his tongue up to flicker around the center before he covered her with his mouth. Yoshino clutched his shoulders, arching up into him.

He kissed further down, lipping at her hipbones, dipping his tongue in to her navel, half mad with desire and delight that he was the cause of her pleasant little moans and gasps.

Sitting back up, he slipped his thumbs beneath the elastic of her panties on either side drew those down off her legs as well. He was now settled between her legs, kissing his way back up from ankle to calf to knee to thigh. His hand was gentle but firm, pressing her thighs a little further apart as she tensed in a sudden bout of nervousness.

"Shhh," he whispered, his lips tickling along her thigh as he made the sound. Yoshino gasped aloud as he explored her with his tongue, gentle, seeking then softly kissing back onto her belly. Dipping one hand between her legs, he teased her with one finger, then a second as she whimpered beneath him, begging for_ him_.

Pausing from his work, he quickly shed his pants, stretching his body back out over hers, kissing her, twining the fingers of one of his hands with those of her own, gripping tightly, he sank into her.

And Yoshino forgot where she ended and Shikaku began.

Outside, Chouza and Inoichi were returning home from a courier mission, Kakashi dozing on Chouza's shoulder as he carried him along like a sack of potatoes. As they neared their apartment, Inoichi stopped and looked up at their building. He plucked at his friend's sleeve. "Hey Chouza, let's go to your mom's house and see what she's got cooked."

Chouza looked at him in surprise. "Are you crazy? It's after midnight."

Inoichi shrugged, "Well, let's go see if my mom's got anything to eat then."

Brow furrowed, Chouza looked at his friend in disbelief, too tired for this nonsense tonight. "Again I ask, are you crazy?"

Inoichi nodded his head toward there house. It took Chouza a moment but he finally said. "Oh. Okay. Yeah, let's go to my mom's house."

As they turned to walk off into the evening Chouza said, "You know Inoichi, there's hope for you yet."


	23. Cold As Ice

**Chapter 23: Cold As Ice**

Shikaku arrived at work early on Monday morning. He didn't mind having to wait a few minutes for Tsunade to show up, it gave him time to reflect over the weekend.

He and Yoshino had spent almost the entire weekend together, it was great-fun-scary-awkward-breathless-exhausting-exhilarating-relaxing in a rushing-at-you-all-at-once kind of way. She'd stayed until Sunday afternoon, shortly after Chouza and Inoichi returned. Shikaku puzzled over that for a moment, he thought that they were due back Friday night, must have had to extend their mission for some reason.

The other puzzling aspect of their return was the lack of Inoichi's little shadow, Kakashi. Chouza had told him that they had left him at his parent's house. Inoichi's time with him was up on Monday, he was due back at the Academy. They'd left him with the Akamichi's until they could find out from Jiraiya what to do with him.

Catching his eye, Tsunade waved at him from across the street and then crossed to join him.

Before she made it to the front door, Jiraiya appeared and intercepted her. He saw a range of emotion wash over her face, from a faint flicker of happiness at first to shut-down steel-eyed resolve and a flash of anger. Yeah. Orochimaru was right. She was avoiding the inevitable. She couldn't deny it, she came alive around Jiraiya in a way he didn't see otherwise. What was it the snake sannin had said – Jiraiya enhanced her?

Shikaku couldn't really recall to much about Dan, but he did know that he had been an observer of Tsunade for a_ long _time now and yeah, now that he thought about it, the only time he ever saw her with that first faint blush of unabashed happiness was whenever Jiraiya was around.

"Can I talk to you?" Jiraiya was asking her.

She glanced past his shoulder at Shikaku then looked back at him. "About what?" she snapped back.

Sighing, Jiraiya answered, "You know it's about Amegekure. I want to talk about what you and Orochimaru saw there."

Once again, looking past his shoulder, she spoke to Shikaku who was leaning up against the wall, waiting for her so they could get started. "Shikaku, why don't you go get breakfast. I'll see you in about," she glanced skeptically at Jiraiya, "in about an hour, okay?"

He nodded and watched the two of them go off. Idly he thought about following them, but then remembered that Orochimaru had been impressed that he'd been able to pull it off once. He decided not to risk it.

She and Jiraiya went off deep into the forest, in a clearing near a pool of water. Like two fighters facing off in their respective corners, they stood apart, each with their arms crossed over their chest. Tsunade was glaring at Jiraiya, his look was more resolute.

"Jiraiya, just stop being such a pathetic jealous fool, will you?" she asked crossly. "Just…give up."

He shook his head, "No, Tsunade, it may surprise you to learn that I gave up on that a long time ago. I just don't want to see you get hurt. And this is going to split wide open soon enough. You should know that Koharu has enough…"

"Koharu, too, huh? Why did you have to go and drag that old spider into this? What kind of a web is she weaving now?"

Jiraiya smiled at her, "Now who's the jealous one? I remember when you were positively throwing yourself at sensei and he wouldn't even give you the time of day because of her."

Posture relaxing, tension leaving her just the slightest bit, she smiled back, faint and wan. "Bastard. You're never going to let me forget that are you?"

Jiraiya stepped closer to her, placing one hand on her shoulder. "Koharu has enough to go over the Hokage and the rest of the council straight to the daiymo. I don't know when she'll move, but she could at any time. I just wanted you to be ready. And Tsunade…"

He gently took her chin in one hand and tipped her face up to look into her eyes. "I know you know I'm right. I know because if you _really _thought I was crazy, you would have told Dan all about it. And you didn't. Orochimaru told me."

"I know him, Jiraiya, I know he wouldn't do anything like this – he isn't capable of something this cold-blooded. I think…he must be in over his head. They've misled him or something and…"

"And that alone means he isn't qualified to be Hokage."

For a brief instant he braced himself for the blow he was sure was going to land across his face. Instead she flung herself into his arms, holding him tightly around his waist and burying her face against his chest. "I wish it was like it used to be. Just you, me, and Orochimaru. I wish we could go back to that."

"Tsunade," he whispered to her, "Tsunade when this is over, I'm leaving."

"What?"

"I'm leaving. I'm going back to Mt. Myoukobo . I can't stay here after this. I can't make people not be stupid and I'm tired of trying. If they don't want to wake up and see that it's damned off that they are living in a continuous state of national emergency and military build-up when there is no war going on , then I can't make them see that. I told Koharu that I would stay and get to the bottom of this thing but after that I'm gone." He paused, "Come with me."

"I can't," her answer was firm.

"Can't? Or won't?"

She paused for the longest time before answering him, "Both, I think. You're the part of me I have to get rid of, the warrior spirit. I can't…do that anymore. I can't be on that warrior's path anymore. I have a different path now, and it's medicine."

"And you call what you're working on now, medicine?"

Tone crisp, edging back toward frosty, "I'm doing the best I can right now."

"Yeah, well, Hime, when I'm gone, look out for Minato. Don't let them make a hero out of him or anything. They'll just use him up." And he wanted to add 'like you and Orochimaru' but he didn't.

"Sure. I'll do that."

Pulling her close to him, folding his arms around her, he whispered against the top of her head, "I really want to kiss you good bye."

"I really don't think that's a good idea." And the frost was in her voice for a reason.


	24. I'll Stop The World And Melt With You

**Chapter 24: I'll Stop The World (And Melt With You)**

It was Shikaku's turn to stop and rub his eyes. This just didn't make sense. Something wasn't adding up here and it really bothered him. Normally his friends teased him about being the laziest jounin around but this was a problem, a puzzle he couldn't let go of, couldn't stop working on. The puzzle had too many pieces and yet he felt like he was missing a key one.

Rubbing his eyes, then his temples, he leaned back from where he had been hunched over the table, studying all the data in front of him. Lacing his fingers behind his head he stretched his arms back, thinking idly back to what… just a few weeks ago when he had done this same thing and Tsunade had started to rub his shoulders.

It seemed like an eternity.

He looked over at her, absorbed in her own notes.

"Let's go over it again…," he began.

"We've been over it and over it!" she snapped back.

He scowled. Bite his head off, why didn't she? For a moment he wondered if Tsunade even had a softer side. He'd certainly never seen it. Then he had to correct himself – yes – he had seen it – with Jiraiya at breakfast that morning. He'd caught a glimpse of it with both Jiraiya and Orochimaru that day at the field, too. Idly he wondered if Dan ever saw it, or did he just inhabit some safe middle ground with Tsunade, not too sharp and not too soft but never really knowing what she was capable of at either extreme. He didn't know the man well but he knew enough to know he must be quite a tool if he was using Tsunade as a stepping stone to be the next Hokage.

Finishing his stretch and realizing there was no backrub forthcoming he turned once again forlornly to his data sheets.

There was a drug…

There were at least two if not more genjutsu users dead from the drug in Amegakure…

There was a virus…

There was one kunoichi dead from the virus…

There was one dead asshole who had had the virus on him…

Had he been the one who had killed Miterashi? What had Yoshino said about that night?

He and Tsunade had turned their findings over to the police, the military police, he corrected himself. The official position had been that Tsuyoshi had been the one who had killed Asako. Their murderer already dead, they considered the case closed. Pretty convenient, Shikaku thought. And to be honest, he himself hadn't considered it implausible until now. Now that he needed the missing piece to finish his puzzle.

He racked his brains. He couldn't remember precisely what Yoshino had said. It had been her first trip to Wave. She'd been fond of the woman, distraught when she'd died. He remembered going to the memorial service with her but he couldn't remember the sequence of events she'd related to him about that night.

And somehow that seemed to be the crux of the matter.

Rising from his chair, he addressed Tsunade, "Can we take a break? I need to see Yoshino and ask her something."

Tsunade smiled up at him then. "It's a little early for lunch, isn't it Shikaku? Or do you need a long lunch with Yoshino?" she teased.

Shikaku actually felt himself blush. It was really rather awkward having the star of your first wet dream tease you about your love life. "I, uh…I need to ask her about that night when Asako Miterashi died," he responded truthfully.

Tsunade was still smiling as she waved a hand at him, "Oh, go on. Come back in a couple of hours. I'll go see Orochimaru."

They left together, Shikaku realizing that he at least got to see the friendly-soft look in her eyes himself that she had for her two teammates that day in the field.

He first stopped by the Hokage tower, thinking Yoshino was still staffed to Koharu's office but to his surprise he was told she was at the Academy today. Swinging by there, he found her on the training field with Kakashi's class.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise as he greeted her with a fairly chaste kiss, uncomfortable with all the students in the area.

"Babysitting!" Yoshino hissed, glaring at Kakashi who was a safe distance away on the opposite side of the field. "Jiraiya had Inoichi check his memories to see just how much is still in that addled little brain of his about what happened last week. Most of it just comes out as sounding like it's something right out of a kid's vivid imagination anyway, so Jiraiya thought it would be safe to let him go on back to class. I'm just here today 'helping' their instructors so that I can keep an eye on him."

"Uh, can you get away for lunch?" Shikaku asked.

She shook her head. "I don't think so today. Is something up?"

"Yoshino, I need to ask you. I know you don't want to think about it. But it's really important. That night when Asako died, what did you tell me happened that day? Where were you two that day? When were you together? When were you apart?"

Her brow furrowed, Yoshino tried to remember even though it was very painful for her. "She and I were shopping most of the day, from about ten in the morning until well past lunch in the afternoon. Maybe five?"

He nodded. "Then she took guard duty and…"

Yoshino tensed. She didn't want to remember the rest of that day. She swallowed hard and nodded herself. "Yes. We, um, got back and um, she said she'd take guard duty first so that…." Yoshino was holding both of Shikaku's hands now, squeezing his fingers as she went on, "so that we could go to dinner. We left about six and got back about ten. She was already complaining about not feeling well by ten. Why?"

"All right, just one more question. When you changed, was she with you or with…him?"

"She was…with me, just outside our tent but with me, within earshot. He never came to our tent. Why?"

"I don't know. I need to think about it some more." He looked at her, she was pale now and he regretted having to ask her to remember. Pulling her close, not caring that a bunch of little kids were watching them now, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her on the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I had to ask you to think about that again. But I really needed to know if he was alone with her at any time."

Yoshino nodded her head against his chest and then straightened up. "It's okay. I'm okay. I should get back to work."

Shikaku kissed her once more, and watched her go back to her charges. Realizing he had a couple of hours to kill since he wouldn't be lunching with Yoshino and Tsunade had left for Orochimaru's, he headed off for his favorite meadow to try to think things over and assimilate the new information he had.

He lay on his back in the grass looking up at the clouds. Asako had been with Yoshino the entire day. She had been fine that entire day too, only after Yoshino returned from dinner was she ill. And from the description of her symptoms, she was pretty far into the fever by that point, too. The fever acted so fast, Tsuyoshi wouldn't have been able to inject her – he had no time alone with her when that could have happened. Yoshino was with one or the other of the two all day that day.

So someone else had done something to her, unobserved, while Yoshino and Tsuyoshi were at dinner.

But who? And why?

What could have been so important in a few tool cribs that Asako was guarding that would cost her her life? She must have seen or heard something in those few hours that Yoshino was gone. Whatever it was it couldn't have been so blatantly obvious that she herself would sound an alarm, or even tell Yoshino about it after dinner. And she obviously hadn't even known she'd been injected. What was it Yoshino had said earlier – the mosquitos at the coast were really bad, Asako had warned her about them. But Asako still must have seen something that somebody went to the effort to have her killed before it went any further.

What was so important about a few tools?

And the building materials they were bringing back?

He shook his head. They'd already been down that path. Even though it had seemed like a worthwhile avenue to pursue, the genetically modified trees that they'd seen in Wave were fascinating but not the source of the drug. He had a sinking feeling that both the genjutsu-enhancing drug and the virus were going to lead back to one place – Amegekure as their point of origin.

But what if there was something else in the wood. Maybe a component they didn't even know to look for earlier. Like the activator chemical that modified that common childhood illness into its more virulent counterpart.

Shikaku sat bolt up. They wouldn't have tested for that before. When they came back from Wave with Yoshino after Tsuyoshi died, he and Tsunade had tried to isolate any of the genjutsu drug components in samples of that bio-engineered wood but kept coming up empty. But they'd never looked for anything else – never knew to look for anything else.

Hurrying back into town, Shikaku checked the time – Tsunade still wouldn't be back probably for at least a half hour. He wondered if he could find Jiraiya in that time. Because if he were right, then there were three locations of interest – the one in Amegekure that Orochimaru had been to with Tsunade, the fields in Wave that he and Chouza had checked out and Tsunade's lab here in Konoha which unfortunately now held a nice cache of the virus courtesy of some test animals. Could that have been someone's goal all along – to manage to get a supply of both the virus and the chemical into Konoha at the same time? Shikaku didn't like that sound of that at all.

And based on what he knew from Yoshino's involvement with Koharu's forensic accounting, the facilities in Amegekure and Wave probably "officially" existed for one purpose but were actually used for a secondary purpose. Like all black projects, the problem being a lack of oversight.

Shikaku blanched – the only way to clean up this mess as Jiraiya seemed to want to do, would be to destroy the facilities in all three locations – including Konoha.

This was not good. This was really not good. Plausible deniability ran rampant – all three governments could swear up and down that the purposes of each location were peaceful – just look at Tsunade's lab. Indeed, the governments may genuinely not even know the nature of the under-the-table projects going on, funded by black budgets.

Shikaku sighed. Teams could easily be inserted into Amegakure and Wave to take out whatever they needed to take out – it's what ninja did after all, stealth and all that.

He imagined that if it would get Tsunade out of the moral dilemma she now found herself in, Jiraiya would have no qualms about dispensing with the lab in Konoha either.

Problem was this was a good way to start a war.


	25. Brothers In Arms

**Chapter 25: Brothers In Arms  
**  
Shikaku shifted uncomfortably in the cool room, It felt like a morgue in here, or maybe it was just because he knew that there was a morgue on the other side of the door. In any event, he waited in the anteroom of Orochimaru's lab for the others to show up.

He didn't know how many to expect. After meeting with Jiraiya at lunch today he'd received a message from him at the end of the day to meet here at this facility. Shikaku had been surprised when he got there to find Inoichi and Chouza already waiting for him.

Jiraiya arrived and much to Shikaku's surprise there were a couple of ANBU with him. The shadow-nin eyed them warily, wondering why they were here and if perhaps this meeting were over before it even started. He relaxed just a bit as the two simply took a spot along one wall and waited quietly.

The last to arrive was Yoshino. She walked over and spoke quietly to Jiraiya. The white-haired man nodded and she then crossed to stand with Shikaku who started to ask "What…?" but Yoshino shushed him as Jiraiya was starting to speak.

"We've been given a mission…" he began but one of the two men standing next to Orochimaru interrupted.

"On whose orders?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest, looked at the man and smiled, "The daimyo."

Slight flicker of motion around the room as people shifted slightly. Of course the daimyo was well within his rights to give orders directly to shinobi, it's just…why would he?

"Is there a reason the…"

Jiraiya held up one hand. "The reason is that they cannot come from the Hokage."

The room fell silent so Jiraiya continued. "We have three objectives that we need to take out simultaneously. Orochimaru is familiar with the site in Amegekure, he'll lead one team there. Nara , you know the location in Wave, take Akamichi and Yamanaka with you. Sakamoto will go with you to Wave but once there she has her own objective. "

Shikaku turned to look at Yoshino who merely nodded her head up and down once and answered "Hai."

"Is that the third site?" he asked puzzled.

"The third site is up to me and my masked friends in the corner over there," Jiraiya answered, nodding back at the two ANBU. "Yoshino can explain her task to you on your way to Wave.

The female ANBU spoke up, "We would like to confirm the orders, Jiraiya."

"Of course," Yoshino answered before he could and walked over to the two of them.

"We can go into another room where it's quieter if you like," the female ANBU told her.

"No, this is fine. I was told to expect this. There cannot be a document so my memories will have to serve. They should probably all know it so that they're satisified," Yoshino replied, nodding to the others in the group.

"Very well, then," the second ANBU said, pulling a chair over for Yoshino to sit. "This is a variant of Jingyakkou no jutsu. Rather than helping you uncover hidden memories, it helps us unlock sealed memories and ascertain the … accuracy of those."

Yoshino nodded and they began. It really did feel like the first time Mugato and the other ANBU had tried to recover her memories about Asako, a peaceful, not-quite-sleepy feeling. She recalled the elaborate gardens at the daimyo's estate, strolling in them behind Koharu merely there as her attendant. With her recollection she confirmed that it was indeed the daimyo who authorized the action, to be initiated at Koharu's discretion. She recalled kneeling in front of Koharu as the daimyo listed his instructions and Koharu sealed each statement. After the sealing, Yoshino herself hadn't even known the locations of the other sites, only her own task and that she was the messenger to tell Jiraiya it was time to initiate the action. She now knew the three locations as well as her own fourth mission and started to recite them but the female ANBU stopped her there.

"The orders are authentic," she said, satisfied, her voice kind behind her mask. "No need to list them. Each team knows their objective."

"Okay, then," Jiraiya said, "Well, two teams have some traveling to do if they're going to be in place by tomorrow night."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes at his teammate. "I might have known you'd pick the one with the least amount of work." he said with his own arms crossed at his chest. He sighed, "You two, you're with me," he motioned at the two shinobi on either side of him, one of whom seemed faintly familiar to Shikaku, but the other he was certain he'd never even seen before, not even around the village.

His friends turned to leave, but Shikaku hung back for a moment. "There's um, something I need to tell Jiraiya," he told Chouza. You two go on back to the apartment with Yoshino. I'll catch up with you."

Shikaku waited until the room had cleared out. Orochimaru and his men were back in the lab, gathering whatever they needed. The two ANBU had departed after a brief conversation with Jiraiya. His own friends were already out the door and on their way back home to prepare.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Shikaku asked. "Is your site the one that I think it is?"

Jiraiya just paused, preparing to hoist his large scroll onto his shoulder. "What do you think?"

Shikaku cleared his throat. How to frame the question. "Is that…," he cleared his throat again, "wouldn't that be…" Hell, he knew a handful of words, each with their own subtle legal distinction but they were all sticking in his throat.

"Treason?" Jiraiya asked smiling at him helpfully. "We aren't helping a foreign government. Sedition? Well, if we fuck this up then the meeting here tonight could certainly be seen as seditious. Insurrection? My government's already being co-opted by Mugato and his co-horts who have a vested interest in maintaining tensions between nations I prefer to think of this as counter-insurgency."

"But you're talking about destroying a government installation," Shikaku said in frustration.

"Hey, it was your idea," Jiraiya shrugged.

"As a THOUGHT exercise, as running through one plausible scenario. I didn't think… I didn't think you'd actually do it. I didn't think you'd actually destroy Tsunade's lab."

"Tsunade's lab is destroying her," the white-haired man answered simply.

Shikaku's anger flared white-hot for a minute at the older man's flippant attitude. "Is this about your government, or about the girl!"

Jiraiya laughed then and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's always about the girl, Nara . Honor the gods, love your woman and defend your country, in that order."

Shikaku gave up. He already knew that even though he'd only considered it as a hypothetical scenario, he'd run through it enough times in his mind to know that this was the only solution. They had to take out all the locations. As close to the same time as possible. Even his, the work he and Tsunade had done, all the notes, data, test results. It all had to go.

He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said looking up. "You should know that there is a portion of the lab that is reverse pressurized for a reason. The virus is in there. It's inert unless combined with the activator but best not to take any chances. The last thing you want to do is to blow it up. It's a common enough virus, everyone here in Konoha's probably susceptible. You wouldn't want them exposed even if it is inert for time being . It would be really bad later on."

Jiraiya nodded, "Gamaguchi Shibari."

"Yeah, that should do it. Be sure to destroy it from within the Toad Mouth Bind. Orochimaru's going to need to do something similar in Amegakure."

"You should tell him."

"Jiraiya – what are you going to do after this? What are any of us going to do?"

"Me? I'm going back to Mt. Myoukobo ," he grinned and placed his hands palms together in front of him and bowed to Shikaku. "I'm going to be a holy monk, you know. As for you? I suggest you focus on the 'love your woman' part. We'll both have satisfied the 'defend your country' requirement."

Jiraiya hoisted his scroll. "See you around."

Shikaku watched him walk out the door then turned to go to the lab. Orochimaru was finishing up with his two men who soon departed.

Shikaku briefed him on precautions when dealing with the location in Amegakure, although he sensed he was talking to someone who already had sense enough to have planned to address that.

Orochimaru nodded. Seeing Shikaku hesitating he asked. "A question, Nara-chan?"

"Why us? Why isn't Minato here?"

"Sarutobi whispers in his ear. He has convinced him to stay uninvolved in Konoha for the time being, to focus on his diplomatic missions. Jiraiya sent word. I don't know if it was intercepted or … received and not replied to._ 'Quanto acrior quam serpentus dens…'"_

"What?"

"An old saying from a very old language. The full expression would translate to 'how sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child.'"

"But Minato's not like that. It must have been intercepted. He'd never …"

Orochimaru cut him off, "You presume too much. Perhaps I refer to Sarutobi and Jiriaya? Or even Sarutobi and myself? In any event, it does not matter much. He's leaving after this, isn't he?"

"I…yes. He is." Shikaku thought about saying that he didn't know but realized he couldn't get away with lying to the snake sannin.

"Hn, yes. I suppose with Tsunade gone to Dan, Sarutobi against him and Minato unresponsive, he thinks there's nothing to keep him here anymore," his voice fell to a whisper. "Not even me."

Shikaku studied him for a moment and started to ask, "Do you lov…"

Once again, Orochimaru interrupted him. "Oh, you can attach whatever label you want to it. I find that I will be very much diminished if he is not here with me. I suppose that matches the definition of something."

_A/N: Thanks to Randomonium for the Latin, the quote I think originates in King Lear but I'm sure the sentiment has been echoed throughout the ages in a variety of languages._


	26. In The Air Tonight

**Chapter 26: In The Air Tonight**

The four of them had plenty of opportunity to talk on their way back to Wave, double time, without being slowed down any by having a kid in tow on this trip. As soon as they were well past the village boundary Shikaku started asking questions.

"So, Yoshino, what exactly is it you have to do here?" he asked.

"Paperwork," she smirked back at him.

"What? Seriously, what are you coming along for?"

"I am not 'coming along' on your mission, Nara , I'm traveling with you. We'll split up when we get to the coast." Did he detect a hint of ice in her voice? What was up with that.

"Okay, Chouza can go with you. Inoichi and I will take care of the fields."

"Chouza will only slow me down. He doesn't know what to look for."

"Well, just exactly what is it you're looking for?" he shot back, perhaps a little testier than he meant to.

"Shikaku," Chouza intervened, "She has certain documents she has to locate for Koharu, bills of lading, receipts, cargo manifests. It's a paper trail…"

"I know what a paper trail is," he answered, again a little testier than usual but unable to help it. He felt a little uncomfortable with his friend taking Yoshino's side in this. Although, he had to wonder to himself why there were 'sides' at all. She had a mission, fine, he just wanted Chouza to go along and look out for her.

Unfortunately, he made the mistake of voicing his concern. Yoshino stopped so fast they were two trees ahead of her before they realized it and had to turn around and come back.

She stood there in the branches, arms crossed, toe tapping, glaring at him. "Let me clarify something for you Nara . I have a set of documents I have to retrieve. I don't even know what they are, just which offices to search. The list of documents is sealed in my memory. If I'm intercepted, I can't even tell them what I'm looking for. I'll recognize the papers when I see them, only I won't even have to take the time to visually think about or process the images wondering is this the right one, is that the right one – I'll just be able to flip through the files and take the ones she needs. Chouza, or any of you, will just slow me down. I briefed Chouza and Inoichi while you were still at Orochimaru's. Sorry you missed it."

Shikaku glared at her. The problem with seeing a woman's eyes go from all flinty to soft in an instant was that they could go back just as quickly. "Fine," he grumbled. "I'm sorry that sounded the way it did. I just…I don't want anything to happen to you."

Eyes soft again. Dammit, he'd never get this troublesome woman figured out. He realized she was speaking.

"I don't want anything to happen to you, either," she said softly, "but you don't see me asking Chouza to babysit."

"Fair enough," he grumbled again and they all got back into formation to continue onto Wave.

After they were underway again, the four of them continued to discuss the mission. They quizzed Yoshino about her meetings with Koharu and their daimyo.

She shook her head. "Most of it, I wasn't even in on, planning discussions and so on, I know as little about that as you all do. A lot of it's sealed – like the actual orders themselves – I knew I had them, but I couldn't have told you what they were until the ANBU unsealed them."

There was a general flurry of discussion about the rationale behind having the orders come from the daimyo instead of the Hokage. Yoshino smiled to herself as they continued on, interested to hear their theories on the topic.

"Plausible deniability…

"Can't be seen as a military operation…"

"He has to stay out of it, can't appear as if he condones…"

Yoshino shook her head and looked back over her shoulder at them. "Man, you guys just don't get it, do you?"

A chorus of "what? what? what?" made them all sound like a bunch of chirruping crickets behind her. She laughed. "I may not remember a lot of the discussions that took place, but there is one thing I certainly came away from them with. And that is the overwhelming sense that they couldn't have Hokage-sama give the orders to destroy these installations because they weren't sure he would do it."

That shut everyone up for a while.

Once on the outskirts of the coastal country, they split up, agreeing to rendezvous again in four hours. Shikaku reluctantly watched Yoshino head off into the city itself, before he and his teammates turned to scope out the fields that they would need to destroy shortly.

The petitie kunoichi made her way into the city, looking for all the world like just another tourist there on vacation. Slipping into the shadows betweeen a couple of the official buildings she made sure no one was looking then picked the lock to a back door and slipped inside. Almost too easy – it was just a bunch of transfer documentation, who would think to guard those anyway.

As she entered the first office, she hesitated, not exactly knowing what to expect when the seal was released. She picked up a few papers from off the desk and rifled through them. Nothing.

Opening a file cabinet drawer she flipped through those until she caught sight of a particular shipping company logo in one corner. She felt the seal release then, a momentary 'a-ha' sense and then she began flipping through the folders in earnest. After she finished with the first drawer she looked down at her side – there was a small stack of papers that she hadn't even remembered pulling out. But when she looked, each had the same logo in the corner.

Smiling to herself and thinking that this was just too weird, she opened the second drawer in the file cabinet and began simply flipping through those again – not even removing the files from the racks. She felt the breeze as she flipped through those and when she finished that row and looked down the stack at her feet had grown some more.

Quickly plowing through the remaining file cabinet and desk drawers, she finished and began to neatly stack the papers she'd retrieved. As she straightened them all so they would fit into her pouch she noticed that they weren't all identified by a single logo, there were an assortment of a few different logos on the shipping documents as well as some where the company name was just embedded in the text. Frickin' weird – she didn't even remember seeing anything on those sheets.

Yoshino left the building and moved on to the next one with similar results. It was odd, feeling things unlock in your head only when you needed them. She'd really only known the first couple of buildings and offices she was supposed to search. But now that she'd finished the first two, she was aware of a list of destinations she needed to go to next.

The majority of those were in one of the new high rise multi-use buildings similar to the one the party had been in that night…

She dismissed thoughts of that horrible night with Tsuyoshi from her mind. She decided that since she didn't seem to have any information about a priority or sequence in which to tackle the next set of destinations, she'd just start at the top of the tower and work her way down.

Scaling the tower on a shadowed side, she stood on the roof looking out at the moonlight over the ocean in front of her. Flicker of motion from the direction of the waves caught her eye and she indulged herself just a moment as she stopped to admire just how beautiful it was. Moonlight silvered a path over the water as the tide brought the waves in further and further up onto the shore, gently sound of the sea lulling. It was absolutely stunning, she stood at the edge of the tower, feeling the breeze ruffle in her hair, thinking back to the last time she'd looked out over this same ocean.

She'd been dreaming about Shikaku then too, thinking how nice it would have been if he could have been there with her.

But then she remembered all too vividly how that night had ended. Tsuyoshi and…she shuddered. She could still feel his hands…feel how disgusting her own hands had felt under his control…

Queasy, she tried to make herself stop thinking about it, but it was almost impossible, as if she was forced to replay that scene over and over in her mind. She tried to get her feet to respond, to step forward to just move, anything to break the spell of this reverie.

Finally she did lurch forward, head down, gasping, grabbing the handrail in front of her as she wretched dry heaves, sucking in fresh air so hard it made her sides hurt. She tried to stand, gripping onto the railings. Steadying herself a few minutes against the railing, wiping spit from her mouth with the back of her hand, she wondered what the fuck was going on.

Just how messed up was her head?

As the seals had released earlier, it had been a pleasant 'eureka' feeling, uncovering a lost memory, knowing exactly what you were supposed to do.

This was different, almost as if she had been trapped in that moment, forced to live it over and over, unable to break free.

Maybe Koharu had been trying to do her a favor? Not just sealing things in her mind for future use, but sealing part of her own past away for her own good?

She felt weak and nauseated, not at all like when Koharu's seals released. Maybe they hadn't released? Maybe they'd broken or leaked somehow and that was why she felt so bad? She didn't think the councilwoman would have done something like that without letting her know, without getting her permission but then again, how would she know?

Long shuddering breath then she forced herself to walk to the access door, she still had a job to do. And besides, she thought, scratching her arm distractedly, she really should get inside, the mosquitos were murderous out tonight.


	27. I Won't Let Go At Any Price

**Chapter 27: I Won't Let Go At Any Price**

Shikaku surveyed the field in front of him. Satisfied that he had placed his paper bombs in all the necessary locations he started to head back to the rendezvous point at the top of the cliffs towering along the coastline where they could observe all the explosions as they occurred. Inoichi had taken the second set of fields and Chouza was covering all the warehouses.

They had debated on the way in from Konoha as to whether the best way was to eliminate the targets one by one or in a coordinated fashion by carpeting the areas in question with paper bombs then sychronizing their detonation. They had decided to go with the simultaneous approach. The upside was that if they didn't do them this way but rather did them one after the other, they ran the risk the Wave police force and hired security would sacrifice one area to save the other by ignoring the fire and concentrating on preventing any further attacks.

Attacking them all at one time reduced the chance of that occurring. The areas were covered very thoroughly – when the bombs went off there wouldn't be a lot of salvagable area no matter how quickly the security forces arrived – the initial blast alone would take care of the majority of the spaces. The downside of course was that it split his team up even more.

Shikaku had been troubled enough when Yoshino set off from them but he did see the necessity of her carrying out her assignment alone. But to have them all four in separate locations was unnerving – no one had any backup. He would be relieved when this was all over. Of course, once this specific mission was over, they'd all have to go back to Konoha and face whatever fallout occurred.

That topic, the fallout from all this shit, had been the focus of his own silent internal debate on the way here. Well, in all honesty, ever since Jiraiya had confirmed that he was destroying Tsunade's lab he'd been mulling this topic over in his head. He felt like he had a shogi board set up in front of him but the pieces were…wrong…somehow, like there were too many on the board – set up for two and a half players or something. He thought he knew what the rules were but then again…not.

He checked the field once again. Time to go back to the meeting point. He hoped no one else had run into any problems or delays.

Being the first to arrive at the designated location put him even more on edge. His teammates always swore he was the last to arrive and the last to complete a mission. Usually he would have just considered it odd if he were ever the first one to show up at something but tonight…he did not like them all being separated like this. From his high vantage point, he watched the evening activity in the village below, wondering if it would be possible to even determine which of the little specks moving in the moonlight was one of his friends.

Flicker of motion across the way from his location caught his eye. Someone was coming. He waited, trying to see through the darkness who it was. He, she, whoever it was stumbled and caught a tree to maintain their balance. Whoever it was they were hurting. Too slim to be Chouza, not tall enough for Inoichi…shit, Yoshino? He prayed to whatever gods there were that it was someone else, not a member of his team, as he silently slipped over to the person hanging on to the tree for support.

Fuck! It was Yoshino.

"Yoshino," he whispered, rushing over to her, "what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Disoriented, she looked around, trying to locate him by his voice. "Shikaku? Is it you? I'm not hurt, I just…don't feel so well." She turned toward him, momentarily releasing her hold on the tree and promptly pitching forward.

"Yoshino, you look like…," Shikaku reached to catch her, "Shit! You're burning up!"

She gave a weak laugh at his chest. "Are you saying I look like shit, Nara ?" she mumbled against him.

"No! Shit! I mean, dammit, you're feverish. You're burning up. What happened?"

Shaking her head, she mumbled, "Dunno, memory seals, released wrong, or some…thing…feel sick."

"Memory seals? I've never heard of any seal release causing an effect like that. Maybe you might feel weird, but they're not going to cause a physical reaction like a fever. What happened?" And where the hell were Inoichi and Chouza he was wondering.

Yoshino was slumping in his arms, he let her settle to the ground, squatting down beside her. "Got…papers," she whispered patting her bag weakly.

"Yes, but what happened to you? Did you run into anyone? Was there any trouble?"

Faintly she managed to shake her head. "No one…just Tsuyoshi…over and over…"

"What?" She was slipping into delirium now and Shikaku was wondering where the hell the others were so they could get the hell out of this place.

"Tsuyoshi. Over again and again…couldn't stop it couldn't stop thinking about it. Trapped. That's when I got sick."

"Shit!" Shikaku tried to push one of her sleeves up but frustrated with the bunching fabric, he ripped it down from the shoulder seam instead. Nothing. He ripped the second sleeve down to reveal what he feared the most, a three-pronged injection mark on her left shoulder, red and raised it must have happened recently. He ticked back the hours in his head – they'd separated from Yoshino about four hours ago.

Crap. He knew the pathology of this disease, the speed of progression, assuming she'd been infected as soon as she left them, and he had to assume that was the case, she was four hours into it max. Near as he could tell from the timeline he'd pieced together, Asako had been dead from it in about fourteen hours tops. Based on what he saw in the lab, though, vital systems would start shutting down, organs failing, in less time than that.

Sitting back on his heels, he let her rest her head on his knees while he took off his vest and laid it on the ground, then eased her down gently so that her head was resting on it. Patting her face gently, he tried to rouse her. He'd fumbled around in his med-kit and found the aspirin. While certainly not a cure, it was undeniably an anti-inflammatory and anything would help while he tried to sort this out. He tried to get her to swallow them but she was so delirious by now she didn't even understand what he was asking of her. Finally, he slid them between her lip and gumwhere they could at least be absorbed as they dissolved.

What had happened to her? She didn't recall meeting anybody but she kept talking about being trapped in that memory. Was she right in what she'd told him at first – had something gone wrong with the memory seals and their releases? But undeniably the injection site was there. No way that was a psychological effort of memory manipulation jutus. That was as real as the marks on Asako's arm.

But she had kept talking about the Tsuyoshi memories, how she felt trapped in them. PTS? Or maybe…

Another flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye and Shikaku sat still, fighting his natural inclination to look up since he was expecting his teammates back. Maybe the reason Yoshino didn't remember encountering anyone was because she hadn't, at least not in normal-time. If someone had caught her gaze, trapped her with Tsukyomi, while they injected her, forced her to relive a painful memory over and over, then maybe she'd never even be conscious of the most recent physical encounter, her brain overloaded on the Tsukyomi experience.

Shikaku forced himself to keep his eyes down as the intruder approached silently. It was definitely an intruder, Inoichi or Chouza would have headed straight over here, seeing Yoshino down like this.

"Nara Shikaku," a faintly familiar voice said. "I have orders from the Hokage to retrieve the documents Sakamoto Yoshino has stolen and to return them to their proper owners."

Now he could place the voice. It was the same ANBU that had picked up Inoichi and Chouza. The same one who had picked up Yoshino. Mugato Uchiha.

"She has orders to return them to Ko…noha," he had to stop himself from saying Koharu's name. No need to say more than was absolutely necessary.

" Nara , I know what you're doing here tonight and I'm telling you it can lead to war. I have to stop it. You can hand me the pouch with the papers or I can take it."

Shikaku relaxed his posture. He didn't want to actually move yet, didn't want to provoke a reaction from Mugato as long as the guy seemed to want to just talk for the moment. And besides, being tense wasn't exactly the best state of readiness for him.

This was going to be tricky. He'd be fighting at a double disadvantage – he'd have to keep his eyes away from meeting Mugato's to avoid Tsukyomi if possible. And his shadow possession was at its strongest when the difference between the light and the shadow was greatest. In moonlight alone, he could still manipulate them, but the effect would be weaker.

"War?" he asked Mugato. "That's just what you'd like, isn't it?"

" Nara , you sound crazy. Why would I want a war?" stepping closer, Shikaku could see his feet and legs now, dared to lift his gaze up to see what weapons the asshole may already have in his hands.

"Well, it occurs to me," Shikaku drawled, trying to draw this out. Dammit, he needed Inoichi or Chouza up here now! "That you're only interested in the documentation. I don't see you actually trying to do anything to stop the acts that could lead to war."

"If you're talking about your pathetic attempts to destroy the fields and the product…"

Bingo! Shikaku thought. He DOES know about the rest of our mission. Interesting that he referred to it as 'product.' But does he know about the other sites? "No, what I'm talking about is your lack of an attempt to prevent those attacks. It would be pretty convenient for you if the fields are destroyed tonight and Wave security finds Konoha shinobi bodies to blame the attack on. War-inducing indeed – isn't that what you want? Especially if you have safely spirited away the documents you need. Too bad Yoshino didn't get them all…"

"What? Which ones?"

Too easy, Shikaku thought, the man kept giving himself away. "If she didn't get them, what difference does it make? They just won't have to be returned, right?"

Provoked, Mugato lunged toward him, Shikaku saw his feet move, kunai in his hand. Shikaku threw his own weapon then, behind him. It was a flash bomb. The momentary burst of light strengthened his shadow as well as temporarily blinded Mugato. Shikaku caught him with the shadow possession jutsu. Holding him in the shadow bind he managed to get in a swift punch to the gut before Mugato was able to block it.

Mugato doubled over and Shikaku sprang up, delivering a kick under his chin that sent the man sprawling. The flash bomb's effect was fading fast, it only lasted a few seconds. Warily, Shikaku approached, realizing he was triply at a disadvantage – he couldn't out and out kill the guy – he might have an antidote for Yoshino's fever. Crap, shadows weakened, unable to fully use his own eyes and unable to take out the opponent even if an opportunity presented himself.

Shikaku tried to relax in a fighting stance again, trying to plan his next move. To his surprise, Mugato, rather than rising to his feet as soon as he could after the kick, instead rolled over to Yoshino, grabbing both her and the pouch. Kunai in the hand he had wrapped around her chest, under her arms, he struggled to his feet,slinging the pouch over one shoulder with the other hand. "Stay back, Nara , or I'll kill her."

"Fuck, Mugato. Can't you see she's dying already," Shikaku began, starting to take a step toward the pair.

Mugato motioned with the tip of his kunai as Yoshino lolled again him. "Don't even move, not even a fucking finger."

Shikaku froze, trying to think of a plan. For now, all he could come up with was 'stall him.' "Okay, look, explain it to me again. I don't want to start a war. If your way will prevent it, explain it to me again."

In the back of his mind, tickling at the edge of it, her heard a familiar voice…'Shikaku, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into now?'

Inoichi! If Inoichi had ever read his mind uninvited before, he certainly wished, no prayed, that he would do so now. 'Inoichi we need him alive. We can't kill him. Yoshino's been poisoned, infected. Don't kill him he might have an antidote. Don't kill him. Don't kill him.

He hoped Inoichi was getting the idea.

"Look me in the eye, Nara , and I'll explain it to you." Mugato laughed.

"You know, I just can't do that right now. Yoshino may be delirious, but she was saying some whacked out stuff, and I just can't do that right now, you know," he replied.

Mugato took a few steps back near the edge of the cliff, dragging Yoshino along with him. Shikaku winced to hear her moan as he jerked her roughly along with him.

"I'll tell you what, Nara ," Mugato jeered, "I'll let you pick. The mission or the girl."

To Shikaku's horror, Mugato pushed Yoshino over the edge of the clif and turned to run down the cliffside path down to the village below.

Inoichi! Catch him. Don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him. The thoughts raced through his mind directed toward Inoichi as he himself sped to the cliff's edge and leaped over.

The cliffs were over 150m high, although the fall might seem instantaneous, still it took a certain amount of time to cover that distance starting at a free-fall. Approximately five seconds given the standard rate of acceleration. Five seconds to come up with a plan, during which time of course he was in free fall himself.

But that was just it, he couldn't be in free fall or he'd never catch her. He needed a way to overtake her. Launching another flash bomb behind himself to create the strong shadows he needed, he sent one shadow to the ground to pull himself down, providing the additional acceleration beyond the constant of gravity that he would need to descend faster than her. A second shadow he sent caught her, once he was ahead of her in the fall, he began to pull her to him, changing to send chakra through his shadow connected to the ground to now push them back, in effect slowing their rate of descent and hopefully also cushioning the blow when they landed.

The pulling himself to the ground and pulling Yoshino to him through the shadow were new to him. Pushing against the ground was a more familiar feeling – kind of like walking on water. Except that he was much farther above the ground than he had ever been above the water. And the stakes were much greater if he did this wrong and he and Yoshino were slammed into the ground. F=m*fucking_a.

He had Yoshino now and the push against the ground with his chakra felt like having the wind knocked out of him by a good solid blow to the gut, only he kept on feeling it as he tried to slow them as much as possible. He wouldn't be able to do this much longer. But that was okay because the flash bomb only lasted a few seconds and the ground was rushing up to greet them.

With one hand extended behind him to push through the shadow for all he was worth and his other arm wrapped around Yoshino at last, the flash bomb faded out and Shikaku had one last thought before he hit the ground…

Man, this was going to hurt like hell.

Shikaku awoke to Chouza smacking him lightly about the face with one heavy hand. "C'mon Shikaku, wake up. That was freakin' incredible. I saw the whole thing. I didn't know you could do that. "

Shikaku went to wipe his face with one hand but winced as he realized he'd landed on that hand when he'd finally collided with the ground. Blinding stab of pain and he groaned, realizing it was probably broken. He raised his other hand from off of Yoshino and wiped his face, trying to clear his eyes and his thoughts.

"Chouza? Where the hell were you? What happened?" he asked, struggling to sit up.

Chouza gently lifted Yoshino off him and carefully placed her back on the ground at his side. "Oh," he smiled, "had a little trouble with one of those ANBU jackasses who hauled Inoichi and me in that night. He won't be interrupting anybody's weekends anymore. But what in the hell happened to you and Yoshino?"

"Yoshino, she's, she's," he winced in pain as he brought his hurt arm in front of his with his good hand. "Where's Inoichi? Have you seen Inoichi?"

"Here," Inoichi said, coming up the same path Chouza had just travelled, with Mugato shuffling along besides him, obviously struggling against the shintenshin no justu as Inoichi directed his movements. "So what did you need this fucker for?"

Again, Shikaku passed his good hand over his face, and took a deep breath. "Yoshino's been poisoned, infected. We need to know if there's an antidote. We…we don't have time to get her back to Konoha, she won't last that long."

Inoichi nodded, then turned to his charge, "Okay, 'fess up motherfucker, where's the antidote?"

Mugato just sneered, "Make me," he snarled, trying to activate his sharingan but being prevented by Inoichi's control over his body.

"Okay," Inoichi agreed pleasantly.

"Yeah, as if you could…" Mugato started, then stopped, looking at Inoichi in terror.

"Surprise," Inoichi whispered. In the moonlight Shikaku saw Inoichi's eyes go an unnatural shade of red flecked with black whorls.

Mugato's shrieks split the night air, they were nothing short of bloodcurdling.

In a short while, the ANBU-captain collapsed to the ground, blood droplets at each nostril, saliva collecting at the corners of his mouth. Inoichi turned his strange red and black gaze to his teammates. "Yes, there's an antidote. It's back in town, in the tower. I can be there and back in a few minutes."

Shikaku watched in amazement as Inoichi's eyes faded back to their normal blue. "What in the fuck did you do?" he whispered hoarsely.

Inoichi smiled at him, "Long story, I'll fill you in after I'm back with the antidote for Yoshino."

Shikaku nodded weakly. "Okay, but take Chouza with you. I don't want us split up any more tonight than we need to be."

"Huh," Chouza said, "And who'll stay here with you two? You're in no condition to defend yourself if anyone should show up."

"Look, I can keep watch, I can stand, I can still use my one good hand to throw a kunai or a shuriken. And if anybody appears, I can always use kagemane not jutsu to hold them until you get back."

Chouza sighed and looked at Inoichi reluctantly, "Okay, guess I'll tag along with you, blondie. By the way, should we tie this guy up?" he asked, toeing at Mugato who still lay slobbering on the ground. "How long's he going to be out? Will Shikaku need to worry about him?"

"Ummm, he's not coming back," Inoichi said simply.

Chouza whistled, "Inoichi, you are one bad-ass. So it worked, huh?"

"The hell!" Shikaku snapped, "What the fuck are you two up to?"

Inoichi just grinned and shrugged.

Shikaku sighed and settled back down sitting on the ground. "Well, whatever it is, thanks. I owe you. Oh, and Inoichi, remind me not to piss you off."


	28. Don't You Forget About Me

**Chapter 28: Don't You Forget About Me**

Shikaku awoke in a hospital bed feeling slightly disoriented but overall very rested. Gingerly he flexed the fingers of his previously crumpled hand. They were stiff but still responsive, no blinding stab of pain like earlier. So, clearly, someone had already gotten started on patching him up. He thought back, he remembered making it back to the border of Konoha with Chouza carrying Yoshino most of the way, Inoichi occassionally carrying to give him a rest.

She had flickered in and out of consciousness, especially more toward the end so he had actually begun to hope that the antidote might reverse the fever, or at least slow it down enough so that they could get her into the hospital back home.

They had crossed the border into Konoha and been met by a standard security patrol who whisked them all directly to the hospital. After that it was pretty much a blur. He remembered being frantic about them seeing to Yoshino first, remembered medical attendants fussing over him, too and also vaguely recalling the ashen look Inoichi had developed now that they were in out of the darkness and under the bright lights in the hospital. Inoichi had kept waving the attendents off until he swayed himself and only CHouza kept him from falling to the ground. The red-head folded him up into a chair and told him to sit still and shut up or else he would sit on him.

There was no one else in the room with him. Shikaku started to get up. He had to know what had happened to Yoshino and Inoichi. He caught the side of the bed and that was all that kept him from crashing to the floor. He was weaker than he thought, weak as a kitten. Using that much chakra back at the coast and then the fast pace back to Konoha running only on adrenaline had left him completely drained.

He saw the mane of red hair before Chouza poked his head in the door way. "Shikaku! Good to see you up. How are you feeling?" His friend greeted him as he entered the room.

"Okay, I guess. But how's Yoshino? How's Inoichi? And what in the hell were you two doing?" He started to rise again and then realized that he did not want to pass out in the hospital room and have Chouza catch him, too. So he quickly sat back in the bed and motioned for Chouza to take the chair beside him.

"They're both fine. Yoshino's sleeping, mostly, she'll be fine but she needs a lot of rest they say. Inoichi's gonna be back to normal soon, too. He's just got one helluva splitting headache for now."

"Well? Why is that?" Shikaku asked, waiting for his friend to begin to fill him in.

"Well, ah, you see…"

"He took it, didn't he?" Shikaku asked bitterly. He couldn't believe his friend would have been so stupid. "He took the jutsu enhancing drug didn't he?"

Chouza nodded. "Yes. No, wait. Yes he did, but he took Tsunade's version of it. That is, Tsunade and Orochimaru's version."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shikaku asked. "What version?"

"Well, ah, apparently, she and Orochimaru had made some progress on a way to circumvent the addictive properties. And," here he shrugged, "I guess it works as advertised. You saw it, I saw it. You gotta admit, Inoichi was pretty fucking amazing."

Shikaku was going to kick Inoichi's ass. When the hell did he going around volunteering to be a lab rat?

"Anyway," Chouza continued, "if it's no longer addictive, I don't think anybody will have to worry about it being habit forming any time soon, either. Inoichi is barfing his guts up in his hospital room as well as, and I quote, 'suffering throught the worst fucking-with-a-capital-F headache' he's ever experienced."

A light tap at his door and Shikaku looked up and recognized two of his clan's elders. He shot a glance over at Chouza who mumbled an answer back to his unasked question.

"Err, yeah, sorry about that Shikaku. You were pretty fucking amazing, too. I, err, guess I blabbed too much about it while I was waiting on you in surgery. I reckon that's what they're here to talk to you about."

Shikaku scowled at his friend's retreating backside, then tried to properly and politely greet his new visitors. He then spent the next two hours convincing them that his friend from the Akamichi clan had been overly effusive in describing the situation. Chouza had been down on the ground, it was dark the angle of observation must have made the cliffs seem much higher than they actually were, of course he was holding Yoshino when they both slipped over the cliff, overtaking her and catching her the way Akamichi described was preposterous, didn't they think?

After an exhausting interview, the two older men reluctantly left to let him return to his rest. As he watched them turn down the hall, Shikaku was just about to put his feet on the floor and make another attempt at searching out Yoshino and Inoichi when he heard a noise at his window and turned to see Jiraiya entering his room through that portal.

"So how're you feeling, Shikaku?" the older man greeted him.

"I'm fine, the better question is how did we do last night, all of us?"

Jiraiya grinned, "It was a success, all the targets were taken out, unfortunately we lost one man, but we achieved the main objective. Koharu's got a pile of paperwork from all three sites she can sit on and hint at its existence. It's enough to make everybody even remotely involved in it stay really really quiet for a long time."

"So, what exactly did we do last night?" hating to even ask the question, ashamed to admit it, but Mugato's declarations that what they were doing would trigger a new war were unsettling to say the least to Shikaku. "Did we start a war?"

"No. If anything we prevented one. At the very least delayed it for a long time."

"How so?"

"There's no one obvious to blame. All three nations suffered an attack last night. Amegekure could hardly call it an act of war if Konoha suffered an attack on the same scale, in the same night now could they? So they can sit around pointing fingers at each other all they want to, but no one's really going to have any impetus to declare a war."

He continued. "The other good thing is that everyday people are at least a little bit suspicious now, they are at some level, now aware that non-nation entities, or let's call them extra-governmental entities, are capable of organizing something of this scope. Of course what they're going to be concentrating on are the three sites that were attacked last night – since for all public information purposes those three were each legitimate installations of their respective governments. Never really realizing that the destruction of those site actually thwarted the goals of the true extra-governmental entities – the ones that set up their black shadow operations under the auspices of those labs. But at least it's a start, it will get people thinking and talking I hope."

Shikaku grumbled something that could be taken as reluctant acceptance of the explanation he'd just been given. "So did we really accomplish anything? Did we get rid of the bad guys?" Emphasis on the word bad made it sound like the childish and simplistic view of things Shikaku realized it was.

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah, we got rid of them. But there'll always be somebody ready to step in and take their place. That's what you have to watch out for now."

"So, which team lost a man? Who was it?" Shikaku asked.

"Orochimaru's team. They lost Miterashi."

Shikaku sat quietly absorbing this for a moment. That was the husband of Yoshino's friend. That would leave their little girl an orphan.

"But enough about us," Jiraiya said, interrupting his thoughts, "let's talk about you. I heard you were pretty spectacular last night. Maybe Tsunade really does see something in you after all."

Shikaku's ears pricked up. That was the second time he'd heard that expression. What the hell? He answered in reply, "Chouza talks too much, he's prone to exaggeration."

"Hn, yes, must be. Because what he described would require a LOT of chakra and a tremendous level of chakra control, certainly nothing in your mission reports ever indicated you were capable of anything like that."

"Maybe nothing in those missions ever required anything like that," he answered coolly. "Now since we're talking about me, let me ask you a question, what do you mean Tsunade sees something in me?"

Cocking his head sideways just a little, puzzled, Jiraiya asked him, "You really don't know? You haven't figured it out?"

Shikaku shook his head, honestly, he didn't know what the sannin was driving at.

"You're her fallback guy. Oh, don't get your hopes up, I don't mean in a romantic sense. I mean she begins to see more clearly the weaknesses Dan would bring to the Hokage-ship. Weaknesses she always thought she could help him to overcome by being there for him, with him, sort of as a co-Hokage since in this day and age she herself would never be chosen even though by all rights she should be."

Shikaku sat still in his hospital bed, listening as Jiraiya had more to say. "From her perspective you bring, or allow her to bring a lot to the table. You're Nara , your clan alone brings its own gravitas. You're an accomplished jounin, a brilliant strategist, serving with distinction in battle, although not too much distinction…I must say. And I wonder, after hearing what I did from Chouza, if that's calculated on your part?"

Shikaku was now very still in his hospital bed, trying his damnedest to not blush furiously like a twelve-year-old kunoichi who'd had her first kiss. He felt…out-ed. He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "Well, I might have been trying to keep a low profile…"

Jiraiya laughed with warmth, then, companionably. "She'll be after you, you know. She'll try to pick you up and shake you out and smooth out your rough edges. And Tsunade can be very persuasive when she wants to be."

"So how many votes could you count on on the council?"

"At least one." Jiraiya grinned, "And here's a tip for you. The queen is just a pawn herself after all, but with fancier moves. Tsunade would support you, covertly, through other council members because she still loves him and won't politically abandon Dan outright . And…Koharu will support you if I tell her you want to pursue it."

"And Minato?"

"Minato has Sarutobi's support," Jiraiya answered flatly.

Shikaku shook his head. "No. No, I've spent the last eight years lying low. This doesn't fit in my plan. And besides, what I did last night, I'm not even sure if I could do it again. You were right. It really is all about the girl."

Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder, "That's what I thought you'd say, but I still had to let you know. Well, see you around. I've got a couple more goodbyes to say."

"Tsunade?"

Jiraiya didn't turn around as he left by the room door heading down the hall. He simply called back, "No, I've already told her goodbye."

Walking on down the hall, Jiraiya came across Orochimaru just exiting Inoichi's room.

"Is he going to be okay?" he asked his dark-haired teammate.

"Oh, yes. He'll be fine. A massive headache. I don't think he'll be wanting to repeat the experience any time soon, but there is no damage physically or neurologically. You know, the effects of that are more remarkable than I would have thought possible. Imagine being able to unlock kekkai-genkai that are recessive or possibly even heretofore unknown jutsu locked up in junk dna somehow…"

Jiraiya held up one hand to slow his friend's rapid speech. "Orochimaru, I'm leaving," he said plainly.

"Now?"

"Yes. Now. I just came…to say goodbye."

There was a long pause between the two friends and Jiraiya filled it. "I heard you lost a man last night. Miterashi, wasn't it?"

"Yes. A good man. I'd worked with him on several missions before. A reliable shinobi."

"His wife was the one who died a few weeks ago, right? From the fever?"

Orochimaru simply nodded. He knew Jiraiya was expecting, coaching him to say something and he just couldn't come up with the right words.

"They had a daughter, Orochimaru. She's four. She'll grow up an orphan. We both know what that's like…"

"Miterashi had a large family. I'm sure her experience as an orphan will be far different than ours."

"But still, Orochimaru…"

"Fine, I can sponsor her to the Academy."

After a moment of silence, Jiraiya spoke. "That would be a nice thing to do."

Another long pause then Orochimaru added, "You see, I feel like I should feel something about Miterashi. But I just don't. Why is that Jiraiya? At least when you are here, I can mimic the social expections based on yours. If you're gone I don't…Sometimes I wonder if… Can't you stay?"

"There's nothing for me here, anymore, Orochimaru." Jiraiya responded. Orochimaru's jaw clenched but he merely nodded. "But you could come with me," Jiraiya added.

Orochimaru forced a small smile. "I don't think I was made to be a wandering monk, traveling the open road, Jiraiya. My place is here."

"Well, goodbye then, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said and he embraced his friend like a brother then turned and walked back down the hall.

As his teammate walked away, Orochimaru was struck not for the first time by his mane of white hair. Idly he wondered if it was a badge of purity of purpose or simply a white flag of surrender.

Back in his room, Shikaku hesitantly tried standing again. He was much more stable on his feet this time. He decided to go down the hall, looking for Yoshino's room. It didn't take him long to find it. She was only a few doors down from him. When he first entered the room, she was sleeping. He just stood and watched her for a few minutes, unable to believe and unbelievably grateful that she was here, right in front of him.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled up at him. "Hey," she whispered softly.

Shikaku walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed beside her, holding one of her hands in his and kissing her on the top of the head. "Hey yourself. How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, "You name it, tired, exhausted, weak. Bleah, whatever it was it sure packed a punch. Plus," she said grinning up at him, "I can't get any sleep – I keep having visitors."

"Oh, I can come back later," he teased, starting to rise from the bedside.

"No, stay," she said, tugging weakly at his hand and he sat down again beside her.

"So," he asked,"who's been interrupting your sleep?"

She laughed," You wouldn't believe it. Chouza, of course, then Jiraiya, then even a couple of guys from your clan, asking me stuff about what happened last night. I had to just tell them that it all seemed like a dream to me, I really don't remember much of it."

Shikaku sighed, "My big chance to be your hero and you don't even remember it?"

"Wellll," Yoshino said slyly, "that's what I told them." She stopped for a moment then continued, looking up at him with her eyes so soft and dark. "But what I do remember is that I was falling. And would have died. But you were there."

Shikaku leaned forward then and kissed her very softly on the lips. "So who else came?"

"Koharu did. She came down here to see me. She said that when I got out of here, if I wanted to, I could stay staffed to her office. I don't know. I loved what I did for her, but it was only for a couple of weeks. I don't know what it would be like to not take missions for an extended period of time but just to stay staffed to that one office. But I did like working for her. "

"Wow," he said, not quite knowing what to make of that.

Yoshino giggled then and added "And one more person came by, it was the headmaster from the Academy. Seems like I have an aptitude for keeping the younger students in line so they wanted to know if I'd consider taking an assignment there when I got out."

"Guess you told them no?" he asked.

"Not yet. I mean, I know I grumble and complain about it, but it is something I'm good at and I don't mind it as much as I let on." She shifted in the bed, straightening her pillow so that she could sit up a little better. "It's just that, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know where I want to be," she added.

He gave her a half smile and said, "I thought you would have figured it out by now."

"What? Do you know where I'm supposed to be?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

Leaning forward and kissing her again, he whispered, "With me."


	29. Everybody Wants To Rule The World

**Chapter 29. Everybody Wants To Rule The World**

The pair strolled in the elaborate gardens together, pausing at the koi pond where the woman settled herself gracefully by the rock wall that lined the edge of the pool. The man towered over her but waited deferentially until she motioned for him to sit, too.

"And so you're leaving, then?" she asked, studying the fish in the pool who rose to the surface at the appearance of the shadows over their watery home, hoping for a treat.

"Yes, I just came to say goodbye to you," he said, facing away from the pond, looking back toward the village.

"I can't convince you to stay?"

He laughed then, leaning back on his elbows and stretching his legs out in front of him. "You, especially, cannot convince me to stay. I'm tired of you trying to smooth out my rough edges," he answered, smiling over his shoulder at her.

She tried to frown at him, but it just came out as an odd, smirking half-smile. "Well, I tried," she laughed herself.

She looked at him fondly for the longest time, then picked up a pebble and tossed it into the pond, fish scurrying rapidly toward it, ripples coursing through the water. "Have you considered the consequences of your action? How far they will reach?"

Picking up his own small handful of pebbles he tossed them into the pond as well, ripples in all directions, converging ones making tiny waves, colliding ones collapsing. "Don't play Zen master with me. Can any of us know the consequences of our interactions with others? Is it possible to predict?"

"I worry about Orochimaru if you're gone…"

"Orochimaru will be fine. Tsunade will keep him in line. The two of them, working together on this…," he shook his head and chuckled, "Everytime I turned around she was off to see Orochimaru again and I'd have to pull both their noses out of some medical book or scroll."

Another pebble. The fish weren't falling for it this time, they kept to the banks. "So she isn't going with you then?"

"No. Neither is Orochimaru. I asked them both."

She took a deep breath. "I see. So what about Nara ? What did he say?"

"He said 'no'." Jiraiya answered her flatly.

Her brow wrinkled. Jiraiya answered her unasked question. "It's not that I don't think Minato is qualified. It's that Nara would be able to see through all the political bullshit much better. Especially after this. Besides, you know how I feel about Minato. He's like a son to me."

She leaned forward and placed a palm against his cheek. "Yes. I do know." Brushing white strands of hair back with one thumb, she added, "Good-bye Jiraiya."

He leaned forward and kissed her on her cheek. "Good-bye, Koharu-sensei."

Rising he shouldered his scroll again then offered her his hand and she stood. "I knew her," Koharu started then added, "I knew them both actually, but I knew her well. She would have told you you were making the right decision."

Jiraiya paused. "Thank you, sensei," he said and turned. She watched him walk down the hill toward the village's gate.

* * *

"More tea?"

The pale man let his hand hover above his cup, politely declining the proferred pot. "Thank you sensei, but no."

"Hn, yes," Sarutobi acknowledged, refilling his own cup. Lifting it, as well as one eyebrow he studied his student. "An eventful night, last night, wasn't it?"

Orochimaru sat very still, merely nodding in answer.

"The diplomatic teams of all three nations are furiously reassuring each other that they had nothing to do with it. There aren't enough messenger ninjas to go around delivering all the official communiques. Criminal elements are to blame, of course. Criminal elements that managed to lure even my own ANBU captain…" Sarutobi left the sentence unfinished.

"Of course, sensei, as you say," Orochimaru's voice was soft, as always but his heart was thundering furiously. Was it possible Jiraiya and Koharu had pulled this off? Was it really possible that Sarutobi did not know? Or was he toying with him, trying to trip him up into revealing his part in it all? A very faint glimmer of hope that perhaps Sarutobi had been unaware of any of it from the very beginning was quickly squashed. The budgets and scope alone made that simply not possible.

"It is unfortunate when these criminal elements target each other and innocent people and legitimate institutions suffer…" Another thought unfinished. Orochimaru took note of it as an interesting tactic.

"Tsunade must be quite upset at the destruction of her new facility," Orochimaru ventured helpfully, wondering exactly where his blonde teammate was. How had she taken all of this?

"Yes. Indeed. Upset is an understatement," Sarutobi smiled although it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I've sent her to Amegekure. She and Dan can comfort each other, seeing how his own research facility that he shared jointly with his counterpart in Rain was a casualty last night as well. I believe I'll leave her stationed there for a while. She and Dan work so well together, don't you think?"

Orochimaru nodded, trying to fathom life without either one of his teammates in it.

"Of course, I'll need to beef up the shinobi stationed along the border, tensions are high right now. Unfortuntely, I don't have the medical nin I'd like to cover that increase in troops. But she and Dan are the two best I have. I'm sure the two of them can handle any situation and it's unlikely that we'd actually have any major action."

His mouth dry now, Orochimaru asked, "Don't you think that's spreading the two of them a little thin, sensei? If something were to happen to either one of them…If there's action and the other one can't tend to…"

Sarutobi raised a hand, cutting off his student. "As I said, it's unlikely. I agree that it's an unfortunate staffing situation. But combat is unlikely to occur."

Orochimaru sipped his now cooling tea and waited for his master to speak again.

"An interesting item has come to my attention after last night's activities, Orochimaru."

"Oh?" the raven-haired man asked, wondering if he really wanted any more information from his teacher today.

"Hn, yes. It seems that Mugato and his criminal cohorts were funneling money into their own separate research facility."

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked, again, not really knowing anything else to say.

"Yes. It seems a shame to let this covert lab go to waste in light of the fact the Tsunade's lab was destroyed. Actually we should compensate the people of Konoha for their loss of tax revenues. Civil forfeiture laws would allow us to seize that facility even though it is on Uchiha lands. It's located in a very remote area, on the border."

"I see."

"And of course, there's the issue of the enemy combatants we detained there last night. Those that are criminals from our own nation we can try in the courts, of course. But those that are not…well, we aren't at war with anyone, so they aren't exactly prisoners of war. And yet, we can't very well repatriate them, they pose such a threat to us. Perhaps it's best if they remained there, don't you agree?"

Orochimaru cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, "Hn, yes, I see."

"I knew you would. I need someone on whom I can depend, someone I can trust. And really, this would suit you perfectly Orochimaru. There are probably volumes of research there. Just imagine, if Tsukyomi, a kekkei genkei can be activated artificially who knows what else shinobi can add to their individual abilities. It will take a true visionary to make this come to fruition. Someone like you, Orochimaru.

"I think, perhaps, Sarutobi-sensei, I've been in my current duties too long. Perhaps I should go to Amegekure with Tsunade, too. Although not a true medical ninja, I am competent in the basic skills and could help…"

"Nonsense, Orochimaru," Sarutobi smiled, leaning forward to pat his favorite student's hand. "I wouldn't want you to go all the way to Rain. I want to keep you here. With me."

= The End = (Well, actually there is an epilogue – so don't miss chapter 30!)


	30. You've Lost That Loving Feeling

**Chapter 30: Epilogue: You've Lost That Loving Feeling**

_Twenty years later, during the time period between end of original Naruto series and start of Shippuuden..._

Shikaku sighed and took a look around the bedroom. His bedroom. Their bedroom. He knew he shouldn't do this. He was going to hate himself for this tomorrow. But while Yoshino was away he had to…

He had to know…

He had to find out…

Just once…

He shook his head. Something was wrong between the two of them. Something was decidedly wrong. He wondered when it had happened. Unfortunately there wasn't a particular event that he could put his finger on, nothing where he could say 'see here – this is where we went wrong…'

It would be too easy then. If there was one assignable cause then you could fix that.

But a broken marriage wasn't like some piece of crystal that got knocked off a shelf and shattered in a spectacular rain of shards with edges that could cut you. Nope. It was more like a favorite earthenware cup or bowl. It might get scratched or knicked or cracked, broken little bits at a time but still functional, up to a point. And all the while you're thinking it's still good and it's still working until you realize that it is looking pretty banged up and maybe it's just not worth it anymore. Then you just throw the bowl or cup out.

Man, that sucked.

And he knew, he could tell, Yoshino thought it just wasn't worth it anymore.

He could tell when he kissed her, she didn't feel anything anymore. Not that they ever really even kissed that much nowadays anyway. It was usually just a peck on the lips or on the cheek when he left in the mornings. Some mornings if she was busy with the laundry or something in another room, they'd just call out 'bye' and 'see you later' to each other as he headed out the door.

And she'd started acting so guilty lately. Sometimes she had papers spread out in front of her at the kitchen table, probably budgets and shopping lists and other mundane household things she was working on. And when he'd come into the room, she'd hastily stuff it all back into a binder and close it up, like she didn't want him to see. Not that he really cared about household stuff, but it was just odd that she so obviously didn't want him to see.

Nagging, gnawing thoughts at the back of his mind, there was something she didn't want him to know about. He feared it was somebody she didn't want him to know about.

Shikaku took another deep breath. Something was wrong. Something was wrong in his house with his marriage. And here he was contemplating doing something he'd never even considered in the last twenty years. He was actually considering violating a trust they'd had between them that entire time.

Considering? Hell, he was going to do it. Yoshino was out for the day. Shikamaru was away on a mission for the next week or so. No one would ever know.

He walked over to her side of the bed, reached out his hand and hesitated.

Over the course of the years he had learned that there were two holiest-of-holys to kunoichi – that little zippered pocket inside their handbags and the nightside table drawer.

The little zippered pocket held tampons and postage stamps, although he never really could understand the logic of storing them together. He'd made this discovery once years ago when he'd asked her if she had any stamps and she'd told him they were in her handbag and she'd get one for him. Since he was closer to the bag and she was busy in the kitchen he'd just decided to get one for himself. Lesson learned – as he suspected, she really did sharpen her tongue the same time she sharpened her kunai. After that he never, ever, ever went searching in her handbag again. And he always bought his own postage stamps.

But that pocket in her purse wouldn't be big enough to hold what he was looking for, what he suspected was a cache of notes and letters from someone else. No, he scoured the whole house while she was out today and there was only one place left to look – her nightside table drawer.

Sure, he had a pretty good idea what was in there – hand lotion and face cream, sudoku puzzle books and pencils, plus that little pair of reading glasses that no one in Konoha ever better find out about or he was one dead shinobi.

The drawer, however, would also be big enough to hold cards, letters, notebooks, address books, just exactly the types of things he was looking for.

Steeling himself, wondering if he was really prepared to know the answer to the question of who she was seeing, he pulled the drawer open. Gently rifling through the things, he saw the standard items he expected.

Hand lotion, check.

Face cream, check.

Notebook, check.

Reading glasses, check(not that he would ever let anyone know).

Notebook, check.

Notebook, check(there sure were a lot of notebooks).

Sudoku book, check.

Icha Icha books…

He cocked an eyebrow skyward. Not that he minded in the least, after all, Yoshino knew where his porn was. She knew where Shikamaru's porn was, too, since she'd come waving it at him when she'd first found it and riding his ass about having the talk with their son before he got some kunoichi pregnant. He knew she still knew where his was, too, because periodically he'd find the stack straightened neatly. It was just one of those things they never talked about.

Well, whatever. Book weren't what he was looking for. The notebooks however, might have clues, a name or an address.

He picked up the first one and started leafing through it.

After a few minutes, he sat down on the bed, notebook opened on his lap…

Shit.

It had been a while since he'd read the Icha Icha series, but still, he thought he recognized several of the characters' names…

Holy shit.

Yoshino wrote this?

The handwriting was unmistakable, a neat, tidy script that flowed over pages and pages (and pages and pages) of…smut.

Absorbed in the writing in front of him, he didn't hear the front door open, nor did he hear Yoshino come into their room. He did however, hear her say quite crossly, "Is there something you're looking for Shikaku?"

Jerking his gaze up from the papers, realizing the table drawer was still open and he had her notebooks scattered around him on the bed, he still managed to snap back, "Well, I don't know. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Hn, yeah, as if you'd listen," she said waspishly, setting her shopping bags down and going to the bed to begin arranging and re-stacking her notebooks. She snatched the one he was holding out of his hand. He snatched it back standing up to face her.

"Give it to me!" she demanded.

"No! Yoshino, did you write this?"

"Yes! What's it to you?"

"Well, I mean, I just…why?"

Exasperated, she stood glaring at him, hands on her hips, notebooks tucked under one arm. "Sometimes I just don't like the way the stories turn out. So I…come up with my own endings…and other stuff."

Conflicting emotions played over his face, relief that there wasn't actually someone else (since he really wasn't going to count the fictional characters in Jiraiya's books as competition) but concern as well. "Yoshino – some of those are …boys…they're the same age as Shikamaru…"

She waved a hand dismissively. "I was just trying out something new. I'm not really good at the boy-love stuff. I haven't published any of that. I stick mostly to the het stuff."

"Published!"

"Well, not published published, but sent off to some people who run fanzines, they've printed a few."

Shikaku pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, not really wanting to consider any postal code implications here. It was bad enough to think that his wife's erotic imagination, her rather vivid and descriptive erotic imagination, was being read by other people and he didn't even know it existed until now.

"Okay, but still…why?"

"What? Do you mind? Do you not want me to?"

"No, it's not that I mind…I'm amazed…"

"Amazed! What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped. "You didn't think I could write something like that, did you? You don't think of me that way do you? You don't think of me at all! You're just always off with Inoichi and Chouza…"

Shikaku shook his head, not really following how Inoichi and Chouza had crept into the conversation.

He held up one hand yelling back, "Amazing…okay? I should have said amazing! Not that I'm amazed you wrote it but that what you wrote is amazing and…," he faltered, " …hot. But what's this about Inoichi and Chouza?"

"You're always with them…"

"Why don't you say something?"

"Because I don't mind you being with them…it's just that you've completely stopped being with me. You used to come home to me. Now you just make it as far as the couch and fall asleep there."

"I don't want to wake you up! You're always tired!"

"I was tired when I was chasing a toddler around! I was tired when I was riding a lazy kid's ass to do his work as well as my own. Said kid who is now a teenager and out of the house for a week in case you hadn't noticed! Not that I would expect you would! Not that I would expect you to look forward to us actually having the house to ourselves for a change!"

Oi, on a tear now, a good one too, he hadn't seen her this wound up in quite a while. Although come to think of it she did have a good point – Shikamaru was gone for the week. And her looking forward to the kid being gone and her being alone with him was kind of cool…or hot…depending on your point of view.

She brushed past him, slamming her notebooks back into the nightstand. Whirling away before he could say anything else she went back and snatched up her shopping bags. Infuriated, Shikaku stopped her with kagemane so fast she dropped her bags.

Frozen into place, pulling hard against his jutsu she snapped at him, "Dammit, I bet you made me break the eggs!"

"I don't care about the damned eggs! You're not leaving here until you tell me what's wrong. What's going on?" he asked walking around to face her.

"What's going on is I'm trying to put the damned groceries away, what's left of them that is!" she snapped back, eyes flashing, chest heaving, pulling against his hold with all her chakra.

"No! With you. With me. With us!" he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"I have a hobby, okay? Why not? Why the hell not? I might just as well, since I just stay in bed at night reading and waiting for you to come home. I was so bored with reading I finally started writing. At least if I write it I…," she closed her mouth shut, biting back the rest of her sentence.

" 'At least if you write it …' what?" he asked still glaring at her.

"Nothing."

"Dammit. What? If you write it – what?"

"If I write it I get what I want okay? Or at least the girl does. Or somebody does. There are you satisfied?" she huffed at him blowing a stray strand of hair back out of her face.

"Well, what the hell is it you want?"

"I…I," her chin was quivering now as tears welled up in her eyes. "I want you to want me…the way that you used to."

Oh crap. He could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he'd seen Yoshino cry. Crap. Crap. Crap. His shoulders slumped and he released his jutsu. He let out a deep breath and said softly, "You troublesome woman. What the hell are you talking about? Do you know I was in here looking around because I was afraid you wanted someone else?"

One corner of her mouth twitched up, ever so faintly. "You're kidding, right?" And she was in his arms, head against his chest. Shikaku rested his chin on the top of her head and they stood there just holding each other.

After a few moments she snickered against him. "So, you read the boy ones, huh?"

"I have to confess, I flipped through those in a hurry."

She laughed again and he continued, "But the other notebooks were pretty… hot…," he slid his hands to her hips, holding her against him, "I especially like the one about the shadow bind. I'd never thought about…"

Yoshino pulled back and looked up at him, "God, Nara , you are so naive…"

Sometime later, as she lay nestled in his arms, the sheets rumpled around their legs, he smoothed her hair and kissed her, telling her the three words every kunoichi longs to hear, "I love you."

She propped herself up on one elbow, looking into his eyes, smiling and said, "I love you, too, Shikaku."

Then Yoshino turned and reached into her night table drawer and pulled out a well-worn copy of a certain orange book. Smirking and turning the dog-eared pages to a particular chapter, Shikaku heard her say the three little words every shinobi longs to hear…

"Let's try this."

= The End! = (For real this time.)

_A/N: Reviews and comments would be appreciated. Feel free to leave a review or PM me. Cheers, Loves._


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